I'm Caitlin Walker
I'm David Walker and we have two kids my
Gianelli and Ellie was diagnosed with
hip dysplasia the diagnosis happened
pretty early on it was one of those
situations where Caitlin noticed
something going on would like to click
literally about 30 minutes after she was
born and they gave her to me I could
hear the click when we heard the click
it was right away that she's a doctor
because as soon as I notified the nurse
while she was while I was holding her I
did hear the click I told the nurse in
the delivery room so she got the
in-house pediatrician to come over to
our room the first pediatrician did not
notice the thing another pediatrician
came up to the room and then she checked
out Ellie and confirmed that there was a
click the only reason that we were
really concerned about the click to
begin with was because our son he had a
hip dysplasia but not as not as severely
after the it has to be attrition looked
at her it had been about a day before
she saw her primary pediatrician and
then from there it was about 4 days
until she saw the specialist I'm at the
Children's Hospital ticklish their nails
but they confirmed would be over second
I wasn't really sure of the extent of
what it's going to be since her son had
a very mild case of that she didn't need
a harness or anything once I found
actually needed to be in the harness my
perspective on the thing sort of changed
a little bit
Yoshii engine were the harness for about
six weeks she can swear the hardest
full-time 24/7 initially we didn't put a
shirt underneath her harness because
they put some padding underneath the
harness and told us that was going to be
enough that she would be right but it
was really about two days after she had
the harness when we started to notice
the chafing in the redness so we ended
up putting a shirt underneath her
harness which held some of the benefits
of the harness though where that she
ended up fine so after the six weeks she
didn't need to wear a brace it's not
affecting
long term so even though it was six
weeks her first six weeks which were
tough she doesn't have to worry about
that anymore so it definitely changed up
a lot of routines halftime is very
different right changing her diaper is a
lot more complicated so the big thing
that was helpful the doctor was able to
show us the ultrasound and show us what
the hips look like she showed us the
normal hip to the other side which was
normal for her to the right side and
then she was the left side which was not
normal
being able to look at that have her show
us well here's what it a normal one
looks like on the ultrasound in it
here's what the abnormal one looks like
Oh Delta sign that was very helpful she
also mentioned what could happen if it
was if it went untreated their gait
changes and it's very noticeable and
they can't do things like participate in
sports as they get older so at first
there's no visible aspect to it it would
have been especially helpful if there
was a pamphlet or some information on
hip dysplasia itself they certainly had
that to see exactly what the hip
dysplasia is how it affects her band and
how it would affect her long-term all we
had was verbal information from the
doctor on that but it would have been
nice to go home in something one of the
things we weren't expecting was that she
would end up with a flat head it's a
very common side effect of having the
harness and because of the harness she
was not able to move her head so much
once she was old enough to start holding
her head up if I was to give advice to
parents really ask questions because I
think the most useful information we got
was from the doctors that it wasn't
really something that we were able to
research on her own putting it or
wording it in a way that helps us
understand why exactly they need this
harness as opposed to a situation in
which they wouldn't need the harness
there was also the option that Ellie
would have to stay in a harness longer
than the six weeks or move into a brief
following the harness and I was just
constantly anxious because that wasn't
communicated well enough that this is
what we need to see in order for the
hardest of Hamas this is what we need to
this is what we would see if that meant
we need a break mm-hmm just tennis
outlining it that way explicitly we knew
process the steps and all of that just
to put our minds at ease so some of the
positive surprises that we had
experience one she did not seem affected
at all when the harness was being put on
her we were definitely affected way
farther she was yeah and then even
through the rations in the shaping she
did not fly she never seemed upset she
was never tugging at the harness it was
it was just like a normal piece of
clothing for her which made it a little
bit easier on us but one of the best
things is when that harness came off she
started smiling immediately and pretty
much hasn't stopped yeah she's one of
the happiest babies I know she's not
behind it anything in terms of her
development and mobility knowing
somebody who maybe at that time either
was going through it or had just gone
through it and to show us that light at
the end of the tunnel
yeah and Ellie axes so she never had a
harness it's not a part of her life
anymore she's perfectly fine she's a
very happy we can be smiles at everybody
[Applause]
you