Update on Mr. loosey Goosey:

We went to Conrad's 12 month check up last week and were giving bad news. My pediatrician wasn't comfortable with the progress Conrad's hips have made and wanted me to go back to my Orthopedic doctor right away. She said lots of phrases like "He's going to have to go back into his brace FOR SURE, and if the brace doesn't correct his hip dysplacia, he will most likely have to have corrective surgery!" And, "This is why he hasn't walked yet!" and "Your son is going to have a limp if this isn't fixed!" etc. You can understand how this might upset Dustin & I.

My pediatrician making such crazy statements is like a dentist trying to diagnose a skin problem without having the knowledge and education of a dermatologist. It was just really outrageous.

I've learned a few things this week:
1. Don't over react. Don't let a doctor try and diagnose bone issues when they AREN'T a bone doctor & DON'T have an x-ray in front of their face to really know what's going on.
2. I need to keep my perspective in check. Going into his appointment with the bone doc, I was nervous and expecting that we were going to leave the appointment with our kid in some kind of contraption. God comforted me and made me realize that no matter what happens, It's going to be OK.

Yesterday we saw the orthopedic doctor and he took some x rays of Conrad's hips. He had 3 sets of x rays to compare how he has progressed from when he was born, and at six months and how they look currently to show us exactly what percent the right hip was different from the left and from that assessment, he could tell us if he was growing properly, and if he needed to go back into his hip harness. He said that right now there is a 20 percent difference and one of the hips seems a little looser than the other. He would really like that percent to be in the 10-15% but he's right in the middle at 20% and the doctor isn't the least bit worried. He would be worried in the hips were 30-50% different. He would have had us do some therapy with the orthopedic therapist guy if he was worried about how Conrad was walking, but at this time he doesn't think it's necessary. He explained to Dustin and I that Conrad is just built this way and not to worry. We are going to continue to see the doctor and monitor his growth for the next year and see how he does. But right now, Conrad is looking great. He's just got loosey goosey joints.

We took great comfort in being able to sit down and look at exactly how he has grown. I have a deep respect for our orthopedic doctor and trust his educated decision. It was a relief to us that we were able to gain some knowledge on what's going on with our son, and what these Doc's can do to help kids with bone issues. We got to see a display of baby casts of a baby who had a club foot and how over time, the foot got straighter and straighter until it was totally fixed! I just think that's incredible.

Thank you for all of your thoughts and prayers.