Fiberglass Leiderhosen!

We went to DuPont on Monday so Olivia could get her new cast. They had to sedate her because, well, you know, it's difficult to tell an infant to hold still. Anyway, the good news is that the new cast ends just above her knees! We can see her legs again (well, from the knee down), which is super cute since the cast now looks like red, fiberglass leiderhosen. I still don't have a picture of this; the ones I took at the hospital show Liv covered with a blanket, so I'll have to get on that. Olivia once again was a champ throughout the whole procedure. Dr. Bowen did an arthrogram (a dye-test that acts as a joint x-ray, showing cartilage and what not that does not come up on a regular x-ray) while she was under the anesthesia which showed that her hips are set well and the cartilage is growing around the bone. This is great, but unfortunately it looks like Li'l Miss Liv will be in the cast for at least another 4 - 6 weeks. Keep your fingers crossed that it's on the lesser side of that! We'd love to get in some swimming before the weather turns.

We did not have to spend the night but the day was incredibly long because of this as Olivia had to have a post-procedure MRI (to ensure the hips were correctly set in the new cast) as well as the fiberglass overlay. This is the second time that Olivia has had anesthesia, and it's the second time that she has woken up horribly from this. She screams this awful hoarse scream for awhile, nurses a little bit, and eventually takes her pacifier. Mind you, this same pacifier is rejected at home, but at the hospital, it's the equivalent of Linus and his blue blanket. Anyway, when we finally got through everything, she passed out for a bit in the car, drank milk at home, and took a very long nap. We had to give her baby Tylenol that day and the next because the old cast really did a number on her legs. The skin was incredibly raw -- imagine really bad skinned knees and that was what Liv's legs looked like. There were even some open wounds! Today she didn't need the tylenol except this morning; we gave her more before bed because we cleaned her legs with soap (just Johnson's) and water as per instructions. All in all, her sleep pattern at night has stayed the same, but during the day, she's now taking her long nap earlier. I think this was jump-started by the sedation, but it's really rooted in her going to bed earlier and waking up earlier. The girl sleeps through the night, so Frank and I are okay with these minor shifts. Other than that, she's on her way to being perfectly healthy and the perfect baby.

Here we are on our way to the hospital (she's actually laughing):

Here she is in pre-op (that's the paci!) waiting to be whisked away (how cute is that gown?!):

And here we are in the Post-Anesthesia Care Unit... ugh, the most awful thing to experience - not being able to comfort your child effectively.

Thanks for all your prayers and well wishes! We are on our way to recovery!