Update 3

Well, as I right this Liam is sitting 2 feet to my left with his mother, resting comfortably in a Tylenol haze that keeps him pretty drowsy, but calm and not in significant pain. We learned as of this morning that Liam actually has both his left and right femurs fractured, as well as having both left and right club feet. We also learned that from above the hips on up, everything looks completely normal - after learning of Liam's second fracture, the physician's decided it would be best to x-ray his whole body to make sure. What does this really mean, well, we aren't sure yet. The fractures, while clearly the most painful and immediate concern, don't impose a severe concern for treatment and recovery - the in house orthopedist said that the bones could be in different rooms and with a patient this young, they would rejoin just fine. Also, the club feet are not incredibly uncommon - Erica had one as an infant, and those are also usually easily cured with common orthopedic treatment.

The unclear, and very scary part, is what may, or may not be wrong with Liam's knee's and hips. The physician's have not been able to appreciate any significant movement in those joints at this point - and this could mean a lot of things. It could be form of arthrogryposis - a joint contracture disease that prevents joints from functioning properly. This is scary, because there is some definitely family history of congenital orthopedic problems like this, including myself with minor range of motion limitation in my knees and ankles along with muscle weakness in the lower extremities, to Emily, my sister, home has much more severe range of motion limitation and muscle weakness in her lower extremities and is wheelchair bound, to my father's sister home is very similar to Emily, and ambulates with the use of crutches at all times. It also could be complications of the fracture, we know for sure the right fracture is very close to the hip joint, however the left is more in the middle of those bone. Finally, our prayer is that it's just that Liam has had these fractures in the womb for a while, and hasn't been able to flex those joints much. And now that he's out, he can't because of all the pain associated with moving joints attached to broken bones.

For now, Liam has a pretty wild looking harness on, that straps over both shoulders, around the waist, and then pulls both legs up into a somewhat stable position. He seems to be comfortable as long as he's on his back. Unfortunately, he hasn't been able to feed with mama in the normal way because of this, so he's been on mostly formula as mom has not had great success with pumping yet. Daddy has been able to enjoy feeding him a few bottles with good success, but burping is a real tough thing when you legs and stretched out in front of you. Mostly, he just lays next to his momma just sleeping. Unless you're moving him around, he is very peaceful, and has some really fun rare moments of being very awake and engaged with us.

So, for now, please pray, lots. We really don't know where we stand yet, and likely won't have much of a clue until we see the Pediatric Orthopedist on Wednesday. Fortunately we should be able to bring Liam home with us on Sunday, and he seems pretty comfortable for now. We are praying for God's hand in this, to bring him healing, a quick recovery, and no lasting side effects. We are preparing our minds for the fact that it very well may not be that case, and he may have some special needs. He's already a special guy, and we're happy to handle whatever this world throws at us - but of course we want the best for Liam. Each passing hour the gravity of this whole situation seems to settle a little heavier on both our minds. We're staying positive, and looking at the bright side of things, but there is of course a part that feels very angry, hurt, sad, disappointed, fearful, you name it. So, please keep us in your prayers, we need wisdom, strength, and peace for ourselves, and miraculous healing for Liam. Thanks.