Henry was born on 3 April 2021, 3 weeks early by emergency section. He was coming out feet first - well foot first! I was having a footling birth.  As he was breech from 20 weeks and no one picked up on it (the bump above my belly button was pointed out as his bum all through my pregnancy) he was born with Development Dysplasia of the hip (DDH). DDH is a condition where the ball and socket joint of the hip does not form properly in babies. After a week of being born he was seen by the specialist and they diagnosed DDH in both hips, with his left being significantly worse. He was then placed in a pavlik harness for 6-12 weeks. Only being taken off for 30 minutes a day for a bath.  This was hard for us at first but we soon got used to it and Henry adapted. The worse part was the nappy changing! He was to be seen every 2 weeks to be scanned. After 7 weeks his right hip was perfect but his left was showing no improvement. The next stage is having  a spica cast fitted for 16 weeks. This will hold his hip in place and ensure it doesn’t move. At first I was upset and then realised he is a baby and doesn’t need his legs yet. He will know nothing about it - it will be us, his mum and dad that it upsets - not him. After doing some research I soon realised that there are so many children with DDH and most of the time it isn’t picked up until they are toddlers. We have been so lucky that it’s been picked up so early and now await a date for the procedure. We may need a new car seat to help get Henry around, Steps can help with this as they do so many families. 

In the United Kingdom up to 15% of children are born with some type of hip instability. Steps work so hard in order to support children, parents and adults suffering with hip problems. They are always there to support, whether it's on the end of a phone, via social media or by email. They answer thousands of questions a day related to hip issues. They also take part in lots of research and of course give out hundreds of free car seats to families every year so that they can continue to get out and about and without the additional expense of buying a new car seat. We also supply hospitals and doctors lots of free information packs to supply to parents who are perhaps just on the beginning of their journey. 

So please help us make lots of pennies for this wonderful charity and help keep Steps running so they can continue all the good work they do.