Does she have CP or doesn't she?

This was the question that we had for the doctors at Shriners shortly before she turned 1.  Unfortunately we did not get that answer until much later.  

When we took Ella to Shriners for her to be evaluated she cerebral palsy (aka CP) they found out that Ella had bilateral hip dysplasia.  She had to be in this brace for 6 months....

To say thats she hated this brace would be an understatement!  She cried most of the time that she was in it.  Looking back now I am not sure if it was because of the brace or because she was in pain in general.....Take a look at the post immediately after this to understand that statement.  Most nights were sleepless for us as she would cry most nights because she was so uncomfortable.  

This brace limited her ability to move, sit up, roll over, crawl and walk.  it took a lot of patience during this time to not go bat shit crazy!  

As far as the CP goes it was determined that she 'might' have mild CP due to her floppy muscle tone but she seemed to be doing okay so it wasn't something that we really pushed to determine more information.  To be honest the whole 'low muscle tone' thing is something that I will address in another post.  I have seen kids with severe CP and I am just thankful that Ella is not one of those kids!!