It's time to get personal...

Baby Kate, Christmas 2011.

Hey, and welcome. I'm really glad you've taken the time to come and check out my blog :-)

I've been thinking about getting a blog started for a while. They've always rather appealed to me as they are, in a way, a kind of digital scrap-book...and, I'll admit it, I'm a quite the scrap-geek. I have mountains of scrapbooks crammed in our bookshelves at home; and I'm pretty sure the pile of scrapbooks for each child is taller than each kid! I love taking photos and enjoy making things look pretty (Kindy-glitz, anyone?), so scrap-booking is perfect – I can preserve all our family's memories while indulging my craft cravings!

However, while I can paper-punch and emboss in my sleep, when it comes to the blog-front, it's taken a while for me to press the 'Publish' button.

You see the thing, is, I'm actually a professional communicator. I have, for the most part of my working life, been paid to write.

Our baby man, Harrison, January 2012.

Craft a carefully worded report which says a lot but gives nothing away? Yup, I can do that.

Translate trisyllabic engineering speak to make electricity poles and wires sound like sex on (concrete) legs? Easy done.

Write a ten-minute speech for the GM on a topic you know nothing about? From a half-sentence brief? Oh, and he's going to present it at a big do tomorrow full of very important people? No problemo. This happened not all that long ago. On my first day back from maternity leave. Welcome back! 

But, in writing a blog, it's time to get personal. When you write a blog, you have to write about yourself and feelings and stuff. Yikes!

Our big boy, Will, February 2012.

Until about two weeks ago, I really had little to worry about. Apart from juggling a crazy-busy schedule as a working Mum and nursing some sadistically-satisfying sore muscles from the gym, things were all good. A wonderful husband, three children I adore, a supportive extended family and a well-paid job where I get to do what I'm good at with talented colleagues who make me smile and let me still do the preschool drop-off.

Until a no-big-deal visit a fortnight ago to the paediatric physiotherapist at the John Hunter Hospital in Newcastle, NSW. And so the story begins. But first, some background.

Wheeee!!! Slippery-dip fun in January 2012.

Grant and I have three children who are – well...we think - delightfully energetic, bright and affectionate. 

William, who is almost five, is a palaeontologist-in-training who is intuitive, empathetic and has an incredible memory. 

Harrison is almost three and he's our charming, cheeky one. We always joke that the girls will be beating down our door in about 10 years' time! He's got some wicked dance-floor moves and is now the proud owner of some really cool Scooby Doo big-boy pants. 

Kate. Wearing a bucket on her head. Of course.

Katelyn is the baby of our family at almost eighteen-months of age. Our “Kitty Kat” is a sweet, fine-boned little girl who said her first word at eight months (hello), loves singing and likes wearing her Daddy's underpants (thankfully, only the clean ones) on her head. And, we know now, that she also has a dislocated left hip, and it has probably been that way since she was born.

Despite being the youngest of three children who are all close in age, Katelyn, though incredibly strong and flexible, has always been a bit behind when it comes to mobility. She only really started crawling properly once she was 13 months old and, at 17 months, she still isn't walking. She does all the normal stuff, like cruising around the furniture and standing up, but when she pushes her baby doll in her pram, we noticed that she would drag her left leg behind her. We weren't worried, just concerned, but, just to be on the safe side, we booked her in to see a paediatric physiotherapist at Newcastle's John Hunter Hospital in mid-February.

Grant and I. 

I was expecting just to be told that I was overreacting and to be sent home with some exercises. Instead, the physiotherapist took one look at Katelyn, called in an orthopaedic specialist and quietly worked through a series of questions about Kate's hips. Where was she born? Did she have any issues with her hips at birth? Had we had Kate's hips checked since since was born? Of COURSE we've had her checked! I am OBSESSIVE about getting the kids' health checks done....at the very least because I like recording their stats as they grow in their scrapbooks. 

The specialists murmured some reassuring words, patted my arm and bundled us off for x-ray.  

I cuddled Katelyn close to me, took a deep, shaky breath and telephoned Grant in tears.

Later that morning, I stood behind the protective screen while Grant held Katelyn still for her x-ray. Watching the radiographer capture the image, I didn't need to be an expert to see that something was wrong. Her hip is dislocated, the orthopaedic specialist said, and you'll need to meet the Hospital's Surgeon tomorrow. We went home, shell-shocked and hardly slept a wink.

We met Dr. Eric Ho, the Surgeon, the next day. A very smart man, who's managed over 40,000 patients, Dr. Ho is regarded in professional and academic circles as quite the hip guru. We had both Harry and Kate with us and he arranged for his nurse to come and take them away for a play before he shut the door. Gulp.

Dr. Ho told us that Katelyn has DDH, which is short for developmental dysplasia (or dislocation) of the hip. The ball at the top of the thigh-bone is not stable within the socket and the ligaments of the hip joint which hold it all together are also stretched and loose. DDH is not a painful condition and it can be present at birth or can develop later. It happens because when they're pregnant, women secrete hormones in their bloodstream which allows their ligaments to relax. This helps the delivery of the baby through the pelvis. Some of these hormones enter the baby's blood, which can make the baby's ligaments also relaxed. This can loosen the hip joint in the socket. I had Relaxin to burn when I was pregnant with Kate, spending much of my time literally 'laid up' with horrible lower back and pelvic pain. DDH is more common in girls, first-born children, babies born in the breech position (bottom-first) and in families where a parent has had a dislocated hip joint. Apart from having a Mummy who had more than her fair share of Relaxin coursing through her body, Katelyn had none of those risk factors.

The problem with Kate is that she has been diagnosed quite late. DDH is usually picked up at birth, or soon after, and the treatment for those very young babies is quite different. It's not near as invasive. Katelyn will need an 'open reduction' surgery, where the hip joint will be moved into the correct position while she is under a general anaesthetic. Dr. Ho will make the hip joint more stable by doing some correction work on the surrounding tendons. And, again, because of her late diagnosis, it's also likely that he will also need to perform an osteotomy on the thigh or pelvic bones to make sure the hip joint stays in place. For want of a better term, this is pretty much a hip reconstruction.

I tried to stay detached and focus on the facts and I think I was okay until I asked Dr. Ho how long the operation would take. When he told me it would take about four hours, I lost it. 

Grant wiped his own tears away and held me to his chest. 

Dr. Ho passed the box of tissues.

“It's okay,” Dr. Ho said, in his funny, matter-of-fact way. “Everyone who comes in here, they sit in that chair, they cry. That's why we take your children away, because you will cry. If it were me, I would cry too.”

The rest of the appointment passed in a blur. 

Lots of anger, questions and frustration. 

Incredulity. This could have been missed had it not been for our vigilance and persistence. 

Talk of a family meeting at the Hospital to work through how Katelyn's condition will be managed over the next year and, as Dr. Ho put it, “the long surgical journey ahead”. 

Finally, a request from Dr. Ho to go home, read up, rest up and talk about whether we'd like to go ahead with the surgery. 

As if there's any question. Katelyn is our beautiful daughter and we will do whatever it takes to make her better.

I only wish I could take this on for her so she could be spared what lies ahead.