May 11, 2015

Wow..sorry for the huge gap since my last post. As you can understand, life with a newborn is definitely busy with hardly any time to shower let alone blog!

Brandon is now 8 weeks old and growing like a champ. He still only likes to be held and sleeps on his belly. The temperature is getting hot so going anywhere or holding him is enough to send me into a sweating hot mess. Wouldn't have it any other way!

If you remember from my last few posts, I had made joint appointments for Brandon and I with Dr. Millis. He likes to see babies when they are 6-8 weeks old and to have them get an Ultrasound as they are safer than X-rays - and X-rays won't show too much yet as the hips are still developing. That appointment was last Thursday...come along for the ride!

I had made our appointments back in December but Brandon's could not be made official until he was born, had a name, birthdate, etc. A couple days after he was born, I sent an email with all of his information and to confirm his appointment. Fast forward to last week. I received a letter in the mail saying I had no insurance in CHB's files and to call to update it. Again, I emailed the scheduler for Dr. Millis and still not reply. I then received a phone call confirming my appointment...not once did I receive one for Brandon. I started to get nervous with all of this, my emails were not getting acknowledged or returned so I decided to call directly. Wouldn't you know it, Brandon had no appointment. I could have screamed, but it was no surprise. If you email someone and they're job duties differ from what you asked, wouldn't you think they would either forward your request to the correct person or reply back to you with the appropriate contact? That takes common sense I guess. Anyway, they were able to schedule Brandon with me and also get him in for his Ultrasound first thing in the morning. I was very happy they had an opening that morning, otherwise it would not have been pretty.

We arrived at the hospital a little late. My Mom took Brandon to Ultrasound to check-in while I checked-in at Ortho for our other appointments. Of course it took FOREVER! The girl also proceeded to tell me I didn't need x-rays. Seriously? That's the whole reason why I was checking in so early, so I could get x-rays done first thing. I asked her to double check. Meanwhile, Brandon is down at Ultrasound. I was getting heated already and we had only been in the hospital about five minutes. I eventually told the girl that my son was having an US and I didn't have time to wait for her shenanigans. Off to his appointment I went. Poor little guy was crying and Mom was holding him when I finally arrived. Kevin found us (after parking the car) and we were called in minutes later. Brandon did so well during his screening, I was so proud of him.

We finished the US and headed back to Ortho to officially check in and THEN the girl gives me all the paperwork (exactly why I checked in earlier...so I could fill it out while we were waiting). She still tells me I don't need x-rays but I tell her to ask AGAIN to confirm. Brandon gets called for his appointment at which time the front desk girl comes up to me telling me I need to get x-rays. Seriously? My little guy just gets called in and NOW you tell me to go get x-rays. Now I trek off back to Radiology...meanwhile my Mom is texting me keeping me updated. His most important appointment thus far and I'm missing it. I get my x-rays, meet Dr. Millis outside the changing room at which point he tells me he can't examine my baby because I wasn't there. I told him how the front desk people are idiots. He grabs me and we walk hand-in-hand to the exam room to meet back up with Kevin, Brandon and my Mom. Brandon's Ultrasound was fine and did not show any signs of dysplasia!! HURRAY! Dr. Millis did an external exam to check his little hips as well. Brandon was not happy.

After Brandon, it was time for Momma to get examined. With lots of moving and bending and angle taking, Millis assured me that my hips were still perfectly fine. My x-rays show that the left side is STILL healing - 4 years later! Unreal. He spent almost an hour with us and we had a long talk about helping future PAO'ers and how all babies should have an Ultrasound to catch Hip Dysplasia early enough to fix it. Even though Brandon had a good report, he wants to hear from us at 6 months and he wants to see us again when Brandon is walking. His hips are still developing so the hips could form incorrectly between now and then. But if anything, his sockets are deeper than the average which is nothing to worry about.

All in all, the appointment went well even with all the chaos. Were glad to get a good report and I didn't pass on hip problems to my little guy!! Let's hope any future babies will have this luck as well!