... When you have a child you should pray they are going to be healthy ...
PRE RHIANNA'S DIAGNOSIS OF PERTHES DISEASE
Sadly our first pregnancy ended at just 4 months pregnant - our daughter had Turners Syndrome, Cystic Hygroma and Fetal Hydrops. I was young and very naive I was only 18 when I got pregnant, despite this my daughter was planned by both me and my boyfriend at the time (now husband) we tried for 6 months to conceive Ryleigh. When we got pregnant I did not think once about what could happen in our pregnancy, something being wrong never crossed my mind in the beginning, I was naive, thinking about all the clothes I could buy her, top baby gear she could have from buggies to furniture for her room the future and being happy together as a family.
Which is why when I got pregnant with Rhianna all I prayed for was a healthy baby (although secretly inside I did wish for a girl, I wanted what I felt I should of had and lost) but had she of been a boy it would not of bothered me in the slightest, all I wanted was a baby, a healthy one, girl or boy.
My pregnancy with Rhianna was tough, very tough, all I did was lay around and wait for her to be taken away from me, it didn't help that I got pregnant only 5 months after Ryleigh and I was still very depressed - again Rhianna was planned and we tried before my bleeding with Ryleigh even stopped I was scared of missing an ovulation even though I knew getting pregnant while still bleeding was unlikely. After the loss of Ryleigh i started self harming (which wasn't a first for me, I was a self harmer from an early age and did it all through high school, and I also suffered with depression on and off all the time Pre-Ryleigh.) I went to the doctors and got put on anti-depressants but as soon as I got pregnant with Rhianna I stopped taking them as I did not want to take any risks when it came to her health and development however small the risk was. My depression obviously came back full force, the anti-depressants were only masking the hurt from the loss of Ryleigh - there would be times I would lay in bed and cry with *feelings* that it would be the last night Rhianna would be alive in my belly, I would play her *favourite* lullaby bear to my belly and cry saying my goodbyes while rubbing my belly. My depression got bad and by 28 weeks I was signed off work with it to relax at home until Rhianna came along.
Despite the extra scans during my pregnancy to keep an eye on her it was never enough and I never felt at ease, I had a few extra scans towards the end too as she was measuring too small and in the end I was induced on my due date with her because she was not benefiting from being inside and better out then in so they said. My labour was easy it was only 5hours 45minutes and an hour of that was pushing. I did end up having an episiotomy but that was the only negative thing about my labour/delivery. She came out and she was tiny, still covered in all the vernix weighing only 5lbs 13oz! I was asked if she was premature by the midwife but I knew she was not, I used the clearblue fertility monitor to conceive and we only ended up having sex once that month due to me feeling so down and depressed as my due date with Ryleigh was approaching and i wasn't yet pregnant (which was my goal to be pregnant before her due date came) so I know exactly when she was conceived. They checked Rhianna over and she appeared to be healthy the only thing that was a concern was her sucking reflex she would not take bottles, and after our first discharge she was re-admitted the next evening as she had not taken a single bottle - after a few days she finally caught on and she stated taking her bottles and we were discharged.
Life with Rhianna was easy she was sleeping in her own room and through the night by 9 weeks old (kept an eye on via a video monitor that was in our room) she hardly cried and she was very laid back which probably led to me and the hubby getting carried away and creating Lacey (not planned) when Rhianna was only 11 weeks old!! there was meant to be a 11 month age gap between them but Lacey was a bit late making them have a 12 month age gap, We love having the girls close together and although it wasn't in our plans we wouldn't have it any other way, I love my girls so much. The next few years with Rhianna were relatively normal.
RHIANNA'S DIAGNOSIS OF PERTHES DISEASE
The following story has been copied and pasted via her facebook group.
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"In February 2012 rhianna came home from school limping, when i asked her what happened she told me another girl had kicked her in the leg at school, i was angry but thought nothing much of the limp, maybe that the little girl must of gave her a bruise under the skin. A week later and Rhianna was still limping but there was no sign of any bruising, i again thought that it must of bruised pretty badly underneath the skin and asked Rhianna if she had been kicked any more, she said no, I went into the school anyway and spoke to one of the teachers and told them what had happened and asked him to keep an eye on Rhianna and said girl.
Two weeks had passed and she was still limping and it wasn't getting any better, i decided to make a doctors appointment, which we had to wait about a week for, when we got there the nurse checked her leg over and said she can't see anything wrong but watched Rhianna limp, said it seemed "strange" and she couldn't give us an answer, prescribed Rhianna with ibruprofen and told me to make an appointment with the doctor if it didn't go away soon.
We tried the ibruprofen with no change but i gave it a good few weeks before making another doctors appointment, by this point 3 months had past, when i told the doctor what had been going on he gave her a good examination and said there seemed to be nothing wrong, i kept going on about how long she had the limp and how it's not getting any better and that she hasn't had any x-rays done on the leg (i was beginning to think it may be broken from the kick!) he reluctantly made a referral to the childrens clinic at the hospital although by the way he spoke he made me feel like we were just wasting his time.
It took about 2 weeks before an appointment come in the post and then a further 3 weeks for our appointment which was at the end of July 2012. When our appointment came the consultant did a good examination of her leg (the same as the doctor) and because she could hop and walk (she didn't have a limp on that day typically) that her leg seemed fine and she thinks "it's all better now" but as we were getting ready to leave she decided to do routine blood tests and x-rays just incase, she made us a new appointment for the beginning of October for updates on the tests. We went down to the x-ray department and got them done, then headed home. The next day we went and had her blood tests done.
A couple of weeks past and we received a letter in the post that the consultant had wrote to the doctor stating that she had seen rhianna and that her leg seemed fine, she was able to hop with no problems, walk, that her movement did feel a bit stiff but apart from that all was ok and that she sent her for routine x-rays and blood tests to rule out infections etc. I read that and automatically thought she was in the clear that nothing was wrong and just put the letter to the side and carried on waiting for our october appointment to be updated.
One morning i was at the park with my cousins and our children (i have two other children) and my husband rang me on my mobile to say we had a letter come through for Rhianna. It read that rhianna had been diagnosed with a condition called Perthes Disease and then told us they would be in contact for an appointment at the hospital, it said there was a leaflet of information enclosed (of course there wasn't!) so i had to do all my research on perthes disease through Dr.Google! i read some horrible stories and automatically thought the worst, had a few cries.
So yesterday (11th September 2012) Rhianna had her first appointment with a different Consultant , first she had to have another x-ray to check the progress of the disease, the Dr explained everything i researched on Dr.Google and how it meant no trampolines, bouncy castles, running, skipping, indoor play parks any kind of physical activities how swimming and cycling is good and how Rhianna would get a referral through for Physio in about 3 weeks time - about an hour after i got home i got a phone call from the physio department at the hospital who said the Dr wanted her to start physio treatment ASAP so she has her first physio appointment next week, we don't know how often the appointments are going to be yet, we will find this out at her first appointment, it could be weekly or monthly. She also needs to have regular x-rays to keep following the progress of the disease, depending on the x-rays and how physio goes will depend on her treatment, some of the outcomes of perthes disease are not nice at all, but there are many different outcomes.
For more specific information on perthes disease and to find out what exactly it is and what happens, please go here to this link, it gives you a full description of perthes :- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perthes_disease
also here is the link to the offical perthes charity and website:- http://www.perthes.org.uk/"
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So since September she has had Physiotherapy appointments once a month and she had another x-ray done in December 2012 which showed the disease was still progressing slowly and she is still in the stage I of the disease, She has also attended sessions of Hydrotherapy. She does her exercises daily and she also does them at school when the other children are doing PE. What scares me the most is her future the disease has such little research that nobody knows why it happens and every case is very different. Will she need to have operations on her hip? will she be stuck in hospital on slings for months unable to move? will one leg end up being smaller then the other? will she have to wear a wedge in her shoe? will she ever resume normal activities again and get to enjoy her child hood? I don't know the answer to any of these questions and we just have to take it day by day but what may happen does scare me, nobody likes seeing their child go through pain, and the thought of her being in a broom cast, in a wheelchair for up to 6 months straight does scare me.
Since her diagnosis she has been very brave and although it has been difficult for me and her dad she seems to have taken it well. She is not allowed to do PE, run around in playgrounds or at school, skip, jump or use a trampoline or bouncy castle, walk longer then 15 minutes (she has a wheelchair she has to use) She feels left out quite a lot but she covers it with a smile. She is my brave girl and through it all I have to smile and be grateful that it is only perthes disease and while i don't want my daughter to have any type of illness - who does? so many mothers are sitting watching their children suffer from cancer and terminal diagnosis, watching their child go down hill knowing they will pass away soon and I am thankful that my daughter has a disease which I know she cannot die from, she could be left with upsetting results but she will still be here & having to go through a loss of a child, giving birth to a dead baby, not watching her grow up and having a funeral for her then I can honestly say that perthes is nothing compared to that. If i can get through what i went through with Ryleigh and the months after then i can get through this - we as a family can get through this.
I am just sad that it had to be her.
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