Doctor's Visit

If you are counting this is my second post today and, yes, I have cleaned part of the house already. Thank goodness for those long naps babies can take....

We are home from the doctor's appointment. I took Isaac in because we were concerned about lack of control of his head and neck and that he always tilts his head to one side. The doctor confirmed what we were thinking. Isaac has been diagnosed as having congenital torticollis and developmental dysplasia of the hip. Sounds a little scary, huh? What this means is that Isaac most likely tore a muscle either in utero or in delivery---not too surprising considering he was transverse until about week 34 and labor was 26 1/2 hours long, with two hours of pushing and he didn't come down the birthing canal until the very end. Also he had a hard time getting around the pubic bone and most people thought it would be an emergency section (hey, I didn't do squats and lunges all nine months of pregnancy to have a c-section!). Anyway, such torn muscles are usually not detected until baby develops a little more movement and stability in the head and neck. The torn muscle repairs itself, but is shorter than it should be causing the child's head to tilt to one side. There can also be a knot in the muscle on the neck, which we discovered on Isaac late last week. Head and neck control is also delayed. The developmental dysplasia of the hip goes hand-in-hand with the the torticollis. This means that little Isaac's hip joints are a little loose, especially the left one.

So what does this all mean? Baby Isaac Michael is off to physical therapy at Cook Childrens. In fact I keep calling the rehabilitation clinic over and over to schedule an appointment. Apparently they are off eating Halloween candy and too busy to take my call (yes, I am lashing out at them). After a little PT, Isaac should be right on track developmentally and be able to hold that sweet head up with no problem.

The best part of the appointment was watching Isaac as he laid on the examination table. He was happy and kicking his legs and smiling. He then realized every time he kicked his legs, the paper on the table made a noise. So he would kick real fast and hard, then stop and laugh. He did this for about five minutes. It was the funniest thing to him and to me. So if you have already done your Christmas shopping for Isaac, you better hit the return lines. Apparently all he wants is a roll of white tissue paper.

I have included this picture because I love how Isaac is holding on to his precious elephant, attempting to swallow it. It makes me smile, in the midst of being concerned about his sweet little neck and hips.