The Brace arrived....fun in Baltimore!

Yesterday, the brace maker finally came to the Ronald McDonald House to deliver the braces to all three kids staying here.  We were told that we had to make an appointment to have measurements taken at the brace maker's office here in BALTIMORE at least 24 hours before surgery so that they could get the brace made and delivered to the hospital and fitted onto the child in recovery.  So, we drove up Wednesday night so that we could make it to the brace maker's office for the 8:30am appointment time.  (Yikes!)  Well, the day of surgery comes and....surprise... no brace.  Apparently UPS 'lost' the braces (I'm not saying that is a lie, is just smells funny to me having shipped literally hundreds and hundreds of packages in the past few years and seeing how UPS tracks packages) so they wouldn't be here until Monday.  None of us moms were happy - including the kids, because they had to deal with the big pink pillows strapped to their legs whenever they were laying down, but didn't have anything on while getting around, and since that is all they wanted to do (as you saw from my pictures earlier!!), they actually liked that. But the brace is an adjustment - especially after days of having nothing on.  It's called a Scottish-Rite brace and abducts the hips 20 degrees. So the kids end up walking like a cowboy, ha ha!   The brace is supposed to be worn for 23 out of 24 hours a day for at least 4 weeks.  So, it can really only be removed for physical therapy and shower/bathroom time. They have to sleep with it on and everything (or use the dreaded pink pillow at night)!  But they had a full 72 hours with NO BRACE from surgery until Monday, so they really got used to the freedom. No ex fix and no brace?  It was like heaven!  Until it was time for the brace fitting.

Luckily for us, Ava's brace seems to fit really well.  We have found a few advantages of her being so small - one was that the Dr. released her to full weight bearing right away.  She isn't heavy enough that her hip takes much force as she walks. Some of the boys who weigh more have to continue with the crutches for the full 4-8 weeks because of the pressure.  The other nice thing about being light is that the brace doesn't seem to rub her skin in any spots or irritate her.  And, being a girl, she can wear leggings underneath the brace and they are tight enough to the skin that fabric doesn't get bunched under it or anything like that.  She said her legs do sweat underneath, and really likes when it comes off, but it doesn't seem to bother her once it's on.

One benefit of not having the brace in the PACU after surgery also is that it would have been much harder to get it on with the gauze, pads, and bandages that were all wrapped on her leg after the pins came out.  Plus, I would imagine that it was tender and could have been painful to put the brace right on.  So, waiting a few days, we could see that it really did fit well (so no big adjustments to be made) and it doesn't hurt her to come on and off!

This morning we all headed off to the Science Center for a little field trip.  The kids really had a blast together.  We were just talking about how wonderful it is for them to have each other.  Not only just to pass the time, but also to have comic relief and others who are going through the same thing.  They motivate each other and they challenge each other and they watch out for each other.  <3

Here are some pictures I took at the science center:

DJ and Cooper laid on a bed of nails - Ava was too chicken!!!

Last night, for "Activity Hour" here at the Ronald McDonald House, they had Karaoke.  The boys were so shy, but after a little convincing, Ava jumped in and sang a few songs with one of the bigger girls!  I even got some video!!!

Go Ava!!!