So, how's Josiah?

I have not done a good job of keeping others informed of how he is doing and I’m afraid I won’t remember unless I capture his journey all in one place.

Nov. 4th. Josiah was born! We found that he had a sacral dimple and developmental hip dysplasia in one hip. He weighed 6lb 9oz.

Nov. 10th he saw Dr. Pence, an orthopedic surgeon here in Wichita. He recommended that we double or triple diaper him to help keep his hips in place. That turned out to be a convenient practice, because in pinch he always had at least one extra diaper on his person!

Nov. 11th he had an ultrasound done on his sacral dimple. It showed no reason to be concerned. Yippy!

Dec. 3rd. At his 1 month checkup, Josiah weighed 8lb 9oz. Dr. Newlin was pleased with his weight gain at this point. I was concerned that he was much fussier than I thought he should be. He started taking Zantac for acid reflux.

Dec. 14th we took him to see Dr. Olney at Children’s Mercy in KC. He is a pediatric orthopedic surgeon that Dr. Newlin recommended because Dr. Pence was planning to retire in a few months and Josiah would not have to switch doctors during treatment. He was given a Pavlic harness to wear 24/7. It was not as bad as I had expected. It made diapering and bath time more inconvenient, but he was easier to hold and it didn't seem to bother him much.

At some point in December, I was pleased that his nursing time seemed to drop from around 40 minutes to around 20 minutes. At Christmas we noticed his BMs were fewer and farther between. He was still very fussy and always battling gas. We tried everything we could think of as well as some ideas others offered to comfort him.

Dec. 28th He saw Dr. Olney in KC and had his first ultrasound done on his hips. We then learned than both hips were displaced.

Dec. 30th at an early 2 month check up with Dr. Newlin he weighed 7lb 10oz (allowing 8oz for the harness). This indicated he had lost about a pound that month. We were told to start supplementing him with formula. I was instructed to not nurse, but rather pump and keep track of how much he took from a bottle. That was easier said than done. He would not take a bottle and ate pretty much nothing.

Dec. 31st He weighted 7lb 6oz. That day we met with a speech therapist at Wesley that helps babies take bottles. Success! He ate with a Haberman feeder which is just a funny looking bottle.

Jan 4th we started to see his weight turn around. He was 7lb 12oz at Dr. Newlin's. We were thankful that he would take from the Haberman feeder, but it was taking 1-2 hours to feed him. He started taking Prevacid instead of Zantac and that made a noticeable difference managing his acid reflux.

Jan. 10th we were off to KC and Dr. Olney said the harness had not been effective and took it off.

On the 12th, we saw Dr. Newlin and he weighed 8lb 5oz. Also on that day I started taking Josiah to Dr. Scharenberg daily. He is a chiropractor who works pro bono on colicky babies. We saw him all but two days until the 22nd including two of his days off just because he cared so much. He got frustrated with Josiah's breathing issue and insisted we get it addressed.

On the 17th he rolled over from his tummy to back for the first time!

On the 19th he weighed 8lb 15 oz at Dr. Newlin's!

On the 20th we started using Dr. Brown bottles and consistently fed him while he lay in our lap on his belly. We had a breakthrough! Not only did his feedings decrease to less than 30 minutes, but he was far more comfortable afterwards. The 21st was a great day and things have been better since.

On the 27th he weighed 9lb 11oz at Dr. Newlin’s. He was scheduled to have a closed reduction surgery on his hips Feb. 3rd. Dr. Newlin pushed to have an ENT doctor look at him while was going to be up there to see if there might be something blocking his airway. Children’s Mercy was amazing and had things rescheduled and set up the next day!