Matthew's Story
We had some suspicions early on that Matthew had some hip problems. Our Paediatrician and family doctor both thought that everything was fine, but they ended up referring us for an ultrasound. It was fortunate that they did as it turned out that Matthew had bilateral DDH.
While we thought that there may have been an issue,
we still weren't quite prepared for what a positive diagnosis meant. He
was diagnosed at 4 months and we first tried to fix things with the
cruiser brace. Unfortunately the cruiser was not helping Matthew and we
ended up having a closed reduction scheduled for Matthew when he was 5
months. That didn't work either, and we've since had an open reduction
on both hips, and a second open reduction on right hip, which ended up
slipping out.
As I'm sure everyone who has a child dealing with
DDH knows, there is a lot of ups and downs. We have been nervous before
each surgery and each follow-up appointment, not knowing whether things
have worked. We were also nervous thinking about how we would be able to
manage with a young baby in a spica - especially a young baby that was
beginning to get curious about the world and starting to move around.
The spica chair really has been a godsend for us in
that regard. Seconds after we put him in the chair, he started beaming
and he hasn't stopped since. It allows him to be sitting upright and
feel more a part of things. The big surface is great for him to play on
and it really does take a load off both of us. We're definitely thankful
to have one of these chairs!
Thanks Stephanie!
