A Mother's Intuition...

The great thing about a mother's intuition is that it's nearly always right. The bad thing is that it's nearly always right too. Allow me to explain...

When Eliza was 6 weeks old I started to notice that she always seemed to slouch to only one side when she was in the car seat or swing. When I told Mike he brushed it off saying she's use just a floppy little baby and maybe she was that way in the womb. I wasn't convinced but I brushed it off and told myself to stop being so paranoid.

A few weeks passed and she was getting stronger, but still always seemed to lean to only one side. I also noticed that she only liked lying on my left leg but had to be held over my right shoulder. When she was flat on the floor her feet always pointed slightly to her right. To me her back looked slightly curved, but then again I thought I was just being paranoid.

At Eliza's 2 month checkup I mentioned it to the doctor and got a look like "I highly doubt it but I'll check it out to make you happy." His face changed when he started examining her back. Remember that mother's intuition? Unfortunately, this time it was right.

The doctor sent us for x-rays last week and they confirmed that Eliza has scoliosis. They measured a 15 degree curve in her back. The good news is that they didn't find any bone abnormalities that are causing the curve (if that was the cause she would definitely need surgery at some point). The bad news is that there's a high probability that as she grows the curve will rapidly increase. Right now that's really all we know. Eliza has an appointment with a specialist but it's not until October 24th. We will hopefully know more what her treatment will be like then.

Mike and a friend from the ward gave her a blessing on Monday night and I've been much more at peace since. There have been lots of advances in the treatment for scoliosis in babies in recent years. There is a special method of casting that has effectively cured many cases in the UK but it is very new to the US. There are only a handful of doctors in the whole country that can do it. (We don't know if Eliza will be a candidate for this type of treatment yet, but if she is Denver and Salt Lake BOTH have doctors trained in this method. Can you say blessings?)

So for now it's just a waiting game until we see the specialist. We'd love this little peanut even if she is a bit crooked right now:)