Lydia is one month old!

I don't know if you know this or not... but I have a baby.  I mean we.  We have a baby.  Paul and I are working on the "sharing" thing.  Her name is Lydia and she is one month old.  Whoa!  Time flies.  We were so excited when we finally got her.  She is beautiful.  She is seriously super intelligent.  She already has so much personality.  And she has a short femur. 

My goal is to have that last part not be a defining characteristic of hers, but people are so interested and want to keep up with what's going on with her (and us) so I decided to start this little blog for friends and family.  Not to mention that when we found out that our lives had changed more dramatically than we could have ever thought, the blogs of other parents who were doing the things that we are about to embark on were helpful.  I hope this is helpful to someone too. 

We found out that there was an issue with our otherwise perfect little girl about March or April 2012.  At first we were told she had no femur.  Let me give you a little anatomy lesson...because my law degree also came with an M.D.  The femur is the top of your leg.  Its the largest bone in the body.  It hold the majority of your body weight and connects to your hip joint and enables walking, jumping, skipping...  all the things that kids love to do.  We were told that she didn't have one of those oh so important bones in her right leg. 

Well, that was a lie.  She does have a femur.  It's just short.  Really, really short.  We have monthly measurements throughout the pregnancy if anyone is interested.  The condition is known as PFFD or proximal femoral focal deficiency.  We are so blessed, though.  We were able to find out this information soon and mentally prepare for what the next few years of out lives were going to look like.  So many parents don't get that luxury.  In any event...  this little girl is, like, whoa beautiful. 

We have our first appointment with a pediatric orthopedic specialist in a week and a half.  We are super excited to see the structure of her hip, knee, foot, etc.  From what we've been told,  that information is going to set the paths that we take.  From what we are able to gather our options are pretty much three - leave it alone, lengthen, or amputate.  Seems pretty severe, huh?  You can see why the next few weeks are so important.  In the end, though, I know that God has already laid out our paths and hers.  Say a little prayer for us and I'll update as soon as we get some more information.


Xoxo - AC