Palvic Harness and Our New Born

Dear Little Angel,

It appears the news we were looking forward to of a younger newborn sister being born without the fears of potential development of hip dysplasia over the next few years will not be realized.  Today we traveled once again to Salt Lake City to consult in depth with your surgeon concerning the ultrasound results we had taken today of your little sister.  Our trip took us to Primary Children's hospital, where a radiologist cautiously took pictures of a tiny newborn infant's hips as she laid on the white sheets of the exam table.  Raising her dress and removing one side of the diaper at a time, multiple pictures at different angles were captured and recorded for a waiting doctor to review.  With all the images preserved, the waiting doctor reviewed calculations of angles of hip sockets along with coverage of a growing femur bone, then turned to us with a long pause, followed by a deep breath as she announced to us, "Your daughter does not have displaced hips which is good news; however she does have shallow sockets.  Based on your two year old's history, I would recommend putting her into a harness straight away.  Most cases like this can self correct by the time a baby is two months, but no pediatrician with your history would advise no harness. "  With the news out in the open, a quick glance at your mother confirmed what I had pictured, as a few small tears trickled down her cheeks as she stood staring at the small helpless infant laying on the bed.  Slowly, she turned her eyes from her daughter to face the doctor as she thanked the doctor and began to dress the baby for the trip to Shriner's.  Once at Shriner's Hospital the same prognoses was repeated, shallow sockets with steep angles.  Immediately a harness was retrieved and carefully strapped to our young infant daughter.  Over the shoulders, around the chest and finally each foot placed in a stocking attached to a strap returning to the upper part of the harness, forcing the legs in the all to familiar frog like position to aid the sockets to deepen.  Instructions of twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, the harness is to remain on with the exception of bathing.  With luck, a followup visit in two weeks will show improvement of the hips and raise hopes that the harness might come off in six weeks.  Now we are faced with a two year old waiting another set of surgeries on her left hip at the end of May combined with a newborn daughter that must attend bimonthly ultrasound visits to examine the progress of developing hips.  On the positive side, we have a chance to avoid surgery for your baby sister if all goes well.