Stella

This is the most recent email message from my Brother-in-Law

We decided on the name Stella Josephine

I do have some minor bad news to report. It appears Stella has hip dysplasia in both hips, which might ring a bell. It's what Kristin had when she was a baby, and it does run in families and affect mainly girls.

The good news is that treatment has massively changed in the last 40 years (sorry, Kristin... don't mean to make you feel old! :)) They will probably use a Pavlik Brace or Pavlik Harness to hold her legs in the right position for at least six weeks. You can read more about hip dysplasia here: Hip Dysplasia


Unfortunately, no hospital in Lansing has the right kind of ultrasound to do an adequate scan. X-rays do not show cartilage, and so we'll have to go to U of M so the doctors know exactly the severity of the dsyplasia, just to be on the safe side.

I feel better talking to my friend Greg, the guitarist from Root Doctor. His daughter Rachel had the same thing. He told me the brace is a bit of a nuisance, but Rachel is now 10 and is perfectly fine.

Alison will hopefully be released tomorrow. I can't wait to have my girls home.

----Jim

This was me, Kristin, in my cast. This was one of the treatments for the hip dysplasia that I had. The next picture, if you look at my legs you can see that the tights are covering my braces that I had for a little while as well. I don't know what all was done to me - or the time line of events - maybe my anonymous commentor (my mother) can help explain a bit.

I wish, of course, that baby Stella didn't need to go through all of this, but I am grateful for the advancement of information and treatments for this type of birth defect, so that hopefully Stella won't need to have surgery or be placed in a body cast like I did.

Kristin

UPDATE:  Stella didn't have hip dysplasia.