7 weeks old

9-28-2011

The first two pictures are from a few weeks ago during and after Rachel's first "baby tub" bath. She loves being in the water and is looking forward to when she can have a "baby tub" bath again.

Last week she had head and hip ultrasounds done. Her head ultrasound came back normal- her vents continue to measure normal with no signs of hydrocephalus. Yeah!!! Rachel's neurologist gave her the thumbs up and she does not need another head ultrasound until December.

The ultrasound of her hips did not contain as good of news as her head ultrasound did. Her hip dysplasia is worse than what was originally expected. Her hips are riding along the posterior edge of her pelvis. Her "german tourist" brace did not make any improvement in her dysplasia (which I kind of suspected would be the case). Her ortho doc discontinued the brace and we are going to revisit her hip issues in the future. (She is going to be following her daddy's road with hip issues) The ortho doc started Rachel with her first set of casts for her clubfeet. I think the casts almost weigh as much as she does. As heavy as they are - she still kicks her legs up in the air and holds them there. On the bright side her quads and knees appear to be quite strong. Yesterday she had the first set removed. Her ankles were more flexible than what they had been but within minutes her muscles pulled her feet back into the starting position. She slept through the application of her second set of casts. Her ortho doc is planning on four more weeks of casting and then we will evaluate her progress. She is most likely going to need to have surgery to release the tendons at some point. In the picture of Rachel in her car seat with her first baby doll, she has on a pair of aloe infused spa socks over her casts. They keep her toes warm and are so much cheaper than buying baby leg warmers- at $3 a pair (Walmart) you can't go wrong. I tuck the tops of the socks over the top of casts also to prevent rubbing and to keep any tinkles or poopsies from getting into her casts. Needless to say- she has a few pairs- right now she is wearing stripped ones that look like candy corn.

I was able to meet another mom at the casting appointment. Her very adorable baby girl Gabby also has spina bifida and was getting her clubfeet casted. They are located in a town near by our town.

Rachel is now up to 6 lbs 4 oz. She feels so big in comparison to how small she started out. She frequently makes big toothless smiles and makes noises like she is trying to laugh. I wonder what she is thinking. I think we may have another class clown in the family.