Right after my daughter, Maggie, was born in 2012, she held her hands clasped together against her chest. “Like she’s praying!” a nurse said in a singsong voice.
But when the pediatrician walked in, the mood changed. “Praying?” she asked, her voice tight. The nurse and I stepped back while the pediatrician gently moved Maggie’s limbs, testing how much they could straighten or bend. While some tightness in the hips or knees can be normal for a newborn, Maggie’s joints were unusually tight and her limbs could not straighten all the way.