We had him in a cast once before, when he was 6 months old, which resulted in one of my favorite photos of all time:
and one of the internet's favorite videos of all time:
The cast didn't work entirely, nor did the two years of young-forrest Gump style leg brace that he's worn 60 hours a week since. It pretty much corrected his left hip, but his right hip still hadn't formed properly.
Our doctor (a recently retired Army Colonel), a wonderful pediatric surgeon, said now was the time to go ahead and do a surgical procedure to correct the hip once and for all. So, we brought Sam in at 5:30 Monday morning for the big procedure. Poor Sam didn't really understand what was going to happen to him- that's what bothered Rebekah and I the most. He was his usual chipper self, running jumping and having a blast in the OR waiting room. When he went into the prep room he fought and cried against the gas mask. No fun for Mom and Dad either.
The surgery took about 3.5 hours and we got to see him right as he was regaining consciousness. He was groggy and a little scared. His first reaction was to try to climb out of his cast- he had had an epidural so couldn't feel anything below his waist. It was tough to see him so agitated by the cast- he'll have to wear it for 4-6 weeks (the longer the better).
We got up to the room some time later and settled in to 24-48 hours of hospital stay. Nicholas showed up with Grandma and the family hung out and watched movies. Sammy had a few shots of painkiller as the epidural wore off, and his mood improved as the hours wore on. I caught up on a few movies with him on my lap: There Will Be Blood... Definitely, Maybe and Atonement, as well as the first half of Slumdog Millionaire.
He colored and watched some movies too... believe he got through Brother Bear, Ironman and several WonderPets episodes.
We decided to do without a wheelchair and just use our jogging stroller/bike trailer. Costco win.
When we got home Chris and Clarissa were there waiting for us with their new little puppy, Kona- big treat for Sammy!
Now it's just a challenge of keeping him clean and entertained for 4-6 weeks, and then him learning to walk, run and be a terror again. Sammy's saying "thanks for all the prayers, kind words and love!"
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