Corelly, how is your little girl now? Are her hips "normal" and not requiring further treatment? After the spica cast what brace did she go into? How was the state of her legs once out of the cast?
Furgurnie - DD is almost 16 months now and she has recovered really really well. She hasn't taken her first independent steps yet, but is walking around hanging onto us and furniture, and its now just a build up of confidence. She learned to crawl "properly" once out of the brace, but could commando crawl in it and she also learned to roll over while in the brace. She will require visits to our surgeon until she is 14, the first one being in May next year, and then every couple of years until 14, provided no problems arise. After the spica, she went into a Rhino Cruiser, which is plastic and foam. It's a little bit flexible, and kids who can walk before going into one, can usually walk while in it. It goes over the clothes too, which makes life a lot easier. Her legs were okay after the cast was removed, we managed to avoid bed sores! Her skin was very dry, but only needed a couple of days of moisturising before they were soft and chubby again. At our surgeon's visit, where he told us that the brace could come off (so many tears on that day!), he also told us that DD was in the worst 10% of cases, which is why her treatment went on for so long. I hope all of this helps, keep firing questions at us.

Karma1410 - Hope the surgery goes well and the cast time flies. Keeping my fingers crossed for you and sending you positive thoughts and vibes.

I also wanted to say to anyone starting on this journey - trust your surgeon. If you like him/her, of course. My MCHN told me that if DD wasn't walking by 15 months, it was an issue and she needed to know about it. She completely ignored the fact that from 7 weeks to 11 months, DD's legs were restricted. I spoke to our surgeon about it and he said that there are some kids who, even with normally developing hips and bones, don't walk until they're 22 odd months and not to worry about it. So I'm taking his advice and I thought that MCHN was a little unfair to put the worry there considering the circumstances. You will get loads of advice from different medical professionals, learn who you can trust and the others, well, just smile!

And a question from me too............to the parents who have had a child with hip dysplasia, have you had another baby? Did it also happen to the next bubba? If anyone is reading this and has a story, please share. TIA.

Corelly x