As some of you know, Lily had “hip dysplasia” when she was born. What that means is that the sockets of her hip joints were not developed, allowing her hips to move in and out of socket. Our pediatrician recommended an orthopedist to us, and just 3 weeks after Lily was born, she was in a Pavlik Harness.

The purpose of the harness was to keep her legs apart so that her hip joints would stabilize, allowing her hip sockets would form around the joints. We were told that the Pavlik Harness is 90% effective in treating hips, so we were hopeful that after 3 months in the harness, her hips would be healthy.

We fell into the other 10%. After 10 weeks in the harness, our orthopedist informed us after looking at an ultrasound of her hips that her left hip had made no improvement. This was heavy news for us, since we were anxiously awaiting the day when we would not have to put our little girl in the harness. This meant that there was a significant possibility that Lily would need to spend at least 3 months in a body cast and possibly need surgery as well. The thought of putting our 3 month old into a body cast was hard to swallow.

Our orthopedist decided to put her in an Abduction Brace for a few weeks before we could discern whether or not to do casting and/or surgery. This brace wasn’t quite as hard for Lily to adjust to, but it presented a challenge for us. Although easier to take on and off, the new brace required taking off for changing diapers and travelling in the carrier. We didn’t know this until later, but there is a good amount of dispute among orthopedic surgeons as to whether or not the Abduction Brace is even effective.

After only 2 and a half weeks of being in the brace, we travelled to Ft. Worth to Cook Children’s Hospital (where our orthopedist had relocated) to see how Lily’s left hip was doing. After a quick exam by our doctor, we went to the radiology section of the hospital to have a sonogram. We held our breath as the sonogram technician rolled Lily over to take a look at her left hip. Our doctor was there for the sonogram, and not knowing what to look for, I glanced back and forth between the image of Lily’s hip and his face, looking for a reaction. After a moment of silence, our doctor said, “her hip looks great!”

We couldn’t believe it. Neither could he. It was obvious that he was just as shocked as we were. He kept looking at the screen to confirm that his initial opinion was correct. He told us that her left hip was fully mature, and that if he had not known her history, he would have looked at that sonogram and thought it was a perfectly healthy hip. We were blown away! I was just shocked, and Katie was smiling and laughing… It was a miracle. It did not make a lot of medical sense. She had had relatively no socket 2 weeks before, and now she had a mature, healthy, stabilized hip joint.

As a precaution, we were told to keep Lily in the brace for 6 more weeks. At that point, we traveled to Ft. Worth to see our doctor for a follow up. We had been told that as long as her hips looked good at this appointment, no further action would be needed. No casting. No surgery. We were holding our breath. After looking at x rays and feeling Lily’s hips, the doctor said, “her hips could not look better.” Lily’s hips were completely healthy and right on track with where they should be.

We praise the Lord for what He’s done in the life of our little girl, and we can’t wait to share this story with her when she’s old enough to understand it. He is good.