Patient Stories

RI’s Story

My son RI was diagnosed with hip dysplasia the day he was born. In retrospect it was foolish how faulty and embarrassed that made me feel, as did the whole harness process that came with it. I had had terrible hip pain during my pregnancy and am unsure if this was caused by similar hormones in my system or was just a weird coincidence. Recently my friend’s baby was similarly diagnosed and I was thrilled to see that the harness used now is so much more comfortable looking than just a few years ago.

We went through six weeks of full time harness and I forget how long he wore the harness at night. After that he had follow up visits until he was about 18 months old. He was diagnosed with hip clicks and the pediatrician continued to check for them regularly as did the orthopedist after he was out of the harness but he has done really well.

He’s almost sixteen now. The doctors said to be aware that he could be at risk for arthritis in that hip starting in his late teens or early twenties, but so far, no problems. He’s sixteen now and a second degree black belt in taekwondo and has had no residual effects.

I know there are a million more stories like his, that his result is not unusual or remarkable. I didn’t even particularly share this story because it is more of an encouragement than anything else you’d find in a random internet search. I am sharing this because I want parents to know that those feelings of inadequacy and embarrassment at the beginning are normal and totally unfounded. We’ve had one more child by birth since and another by adoption and the real blessing of our first born’s “special need” was that we were open to special needs adoption, which is how we got our wonderful third child (who also turned out to be healthy after a few infant bumps in the road.) Fear not, parents, this too shall pass.