Stand up...and then pray.

So I took Kennedy to Children's National to see a pediatric orthopedic doctor. I was thankful that Grandmommy was able to go with us, as Andrew was in Gettysburg and unable to attend. We had an 8 am appointment, so we left bright and early at 6...ugh.

After cycling our way though multiple nurses and assistants we were ushered off to get x-rays of Kennedy's leg inside her pink monster. She was NOT happy about getting x-rays taken and I know the x-rays were probably quite shaky.

The doctor came in and said that she'd seen the x-rays and there were signs of healing, but that Kennedy's leg needed to be in a spica cast. When a baby of this age has a broken bone in her leg, she informed us, they put on a spica cast. What's that you ask? A spica cast for Kennedy would have looked like this:



If you're thinking to yourself, "Wow that looks awful," then you know why my next move was to start to panic. How would she get comfortable? How would she play? How would she nurse comfortably? How would we survive four weeks of THAT? Could she even sit in a car seat?

She'd been in the long leg cast for a week. We'd seen signs of her healing. She'd been on a minimal amount of Tylenol. She'd been playing, rolling, sitting, smiling, laughing, eating, nursing....I couldn't see why it was necessary to now immobilize her hip joint. If she was continuing to injure the bone...it would hurt....which it hadn't been. If it wasn't healing, the x-ray wouldn't have shown signs of improvement.

So with Grandmommy's support, I said no. The doctor informed me that she would be documenting that she recommended the spica cast and I refused. I took a deep breath and we proceeded to get her a new long leg cast.

The new purple monster is much more padded, both with cotton batting and gel pads in her knee and heel to keep her super comfy as she moves around. The man who put it on was WONDERFUL. I am so thankful that he was there, and I pray that he's the one who will take her cast off very soon.

The doctor who applied the pink monster had said that he was anticipating 4 weeks in the cast...the new doctor said 5 weeks total. It's possible that she could heal very quickly and get it off sooner. I'm praying that when we go back to the doctor on May 10 that she is healed and ready for that cast to come off.

I'm nervous and anxious, but I'm holding fast to the knowledge that this was the right decision for our daughter. And now...we wait. If you're the praying kind, please add the healing of Kennedy's leg to your prayers. If you're the non-praying kind, could you just send healing thoughts and well-wishes her way?! Thanks.