Hip Ultrasounds

Yesterday the four of us packed into the car and headed off to yet another doctor's appointment!  Last week we had a checkup at the pediatrician, where the girls continue to do well, and we also had Annabel's follow up appointment with the pediatric cardiologist to check on her Ventricular Septal Defect (VSD).  It's considered a congenital heart defect, and apparently it happens in the very early weeks of pregnancy.  The good news is that it is the most common heart defect, and most often it closes up on its own and won't cause any problems.  They did an EKG on her (she was a champ!) and that was it.  We will go back to him in two months to get another echocardiogram to get a better look at the little hole.

Yesterday's appointment was for both girls to get ultrasounds of their hips.  Since they were both breech the majority of my pregnancy, it was a precautionary appointment.  At our appointment with our pediatrician, she said she was not at all worried about them having any issues.  Annabel got her ultrasound done first, and the tech said it looked great (but that the final ruling is up to the radiologist and the pediatrician), which we were really excited about since she was born breech.  Sophia was getting the ultrasound done just to be on the safe side, since she was actually head down at birth (she flipped at some point in the week before they were born).  However, the ultrasound tech said her hips are still looking a little bit underdeveloped and showing possible signs of hip dysplasia.  The protocol for kids who have hip dysplasia is to put them in these big braces that keeps their legs separated.  The tech said that they may wait a little bit longer before putting her in the brace and see if it corrects on its own, though, so that's what we are hoping for.  I'm pretty upset about this because poor Sophia has already been through so much. She is still tiny and struggling to gain weight, and I just feel like this is one more little set back.  The good thing, though, is that I know she is up for it.  She is a feisty little girl!  We won't know more until we hear from our pediatrician in the next few days.

Until then, here's a picture of me and my girls hanging out tonight!