Life's lessons

I read the latest post from Adventures of Law Mommy  and it reminded me a lot of my youth and early adulthood.  She talks about being born with hip displaysia and not being able to do little girl "things".  I related to her story because I too was very limited physically while growing up. 

I wasn't born with a birth defect.  In fact, I was born with a perfectly healthy body.  It was the Vietnam war that caused my hip injury and for my one leg to be shorter.  When I was injured in Vietnam, the wound got infected and deteriorated my left hip socket.  The doctors had to take muscle from another part of my thigh to close the wound.  So I am basically walking around with no hip socket on one side.

I remember going to endless Orthopedic apptmts and they told us that my leg would stop growing and I would have a two inch difference.  The doctors also told us that when I finally stopped growing, they could perform surgery to lengthen my leg.  Although it would be painful because the pins would have to be stretched and my muscles and bones would have to adjust.  But it was uncertain if that would be a definite "fix".  Fortunately, the doctors didn't feel it was necessary to do the surgery. Even though I was limited from doing gymnatics, ballet, dancing and running, my hip healed and my leg continued to grow.


As I matured as a young adult, I thought for the longest time that I would never be able to bear children.  I have no idea how I got that thought imbedded in my mind.  I remember the first time my husband and I had that talk about raising family, I told him I couldn't guarantee him children.  Although deep down inside, I desparately hoped that I would be able to carry a baby full term.  Since I had been physically limited all my life and carrying my body weight on just one full healthy hip, I wasn't sure if my body could withstand the pregnancy. 
 
Finally I got up enough courage and made another apptmt to an orthopedist.  I wanted to know if my bones and muscles were strong enough to carry the extra pregnancy weight and if the hip and bone could handle the stress?  The doctor's only advice was to go have a baby the good old fashion way and just enjoy ourselves!  A year later our son was born.  Other than the gestational diabetes, I had a rather easy pregnancy.  I was put on a strict diet in the last trimester so the baby and I wouldn't gain too much weight.  The labor went perfectly and the rest is history. 
 
So going back to Law Mommy's story, I guess the moral of the story is that you can make anything happen if you really want it bad enough.  I may not be the most graceful woman but I have overcome my fears and I have fulfilled my dreams of having a family.  I do reflect back on my childhood especially now my children are growing up.  When both my children reached the age of two, I couldn't help but wonder how a child at that age and size could ever survive a war and almost losing their life?  I look down at my perfectly healthy children and am thankful that they never have to experience what I experienced.