Landon's first week has been filled with many doctor's visits. He had his first pediatrician visit on Friday where he checked out well other than the jaundice (which we already were aware of from the hospital). Our pediatrician did order that we have his bilirubin levels checked though, just to make sure they weren't dangerously high. After another stop at the lab and having to wait for the weekend to be over, they came back borderline (12.3) but pediatrician wasn't concerned and did a follow up exam this morning to see if he was gaining weight and how he looked. She thought maybe he looked more yellow, but I think he looks the same, if not better today. And he did start gaining weight back- 5 oz since Friday. Friday he was down from 7lbs at birth to 6lbs 6 oz and today back to 6lbs 11oz. We have our 2nd screen blood work ordered for tomorrow so we are back to the lab for that and getting his bilirubin levels checked again at the same time just to make sure they haven't gone up.
Also, today we had the follow-up with his orthopedic specialist. She removed his cast and was happy with his knee already. She told us today that her original plan was to probably have to recast him for 2-3 weeks but she was so happy with the results of just one week that she went ahead and got him out of the cast completely and put him into his brace for the hip dysplasia. She says it normally takes 3 months for the brace to do it's job but we are determined that our little guy will prove her wrong. He has been already....and his hip is feeling better than it was on day one just from having the weight of the cast holding it in position this past week. We have a follow up in 10 days to readjust the position of the brace and will continue to see the specialist regularly to adjust and reaccess his progress.The brace is called a Pavlik Harness and looks pretty intrusive but isn't too bad really. My mom says "it looks so big on him!" but the truth is, everything looks big on him. He's teeny tiny!
He is able to move around pretty normally and seems pretty comfy actually. It just holds his legs out to the side in what I call a "froggy" position (and what the specialist calls, "man style"). He has to keep it on at all times so we won't be doing much as far as changing his outfits. He'll have a onesie underneath and we'll try to find him some sleep sack outfits that fit over everything. Landon has been wearing nothing but the brace and a diaper since we left the office today and it doesn't seem to phase him at all. His umbilical cord came off today so we ARE going to slip him out of it tonight to give him his inaugural first dunk in the tub. Hoping that this time next month he'll be showing so much progress that we're talking about taking it off sooner.
He is able to move around pretty normally and seems pretty comfy actually. It just holds his legs out to the side in what I call a "froggy" position (and what the specialist calls, "man style"). He has to keep it on at all times so we won't be doing much as far as changing his outfits. He'll have a onesie underneath and we'll try to find him some sleep sack outfits that fit over everything. Landon has been wearing nothing but the brace and a diaper since we left the office today and it doesn't seem to phase him at all. His umbilical cord came off today so we ARE going to slip him out of it tonight to give him his inaugural first dunk in the tub. Hoping that this time next month he'll be showing so much progress that we're talking about taking it off sooner.
It's been trying at times with just the cast, and the brace is going to test our patience at diaper changing time as well, but we'll deal with it all as much as we need to if it means he'll be 100% in the future.
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