Yes you have read correctly, my sweet precious darling has been diagnosed with clubfoot on both of her feet. I was a bit concerned with how turned in her feet were at the hospital and seeing as we have family history of club feet my pediatrician immediately referred us to Denver Children's Hospital's Orthopedic Surgeon and Team. We went on Thursday February 7, and came home with tons of information, broken and hopeful hearts, and two casts on Violette's legs.
I would be lying if I said this has been easy. Changing a diaper is hard enough, now try doing it with two casts all the way up to the baby's hips. You thought a blowout diaper was a pain before, now realize you can't bathe your daughter to get the poop off and yes now it is on her casts. Finally we were getting the hang of breastfeeding and now we are starting over because the positioning is all weird and she is not happy about it.
I will remain hopeful though. In the big picture of life clubfeet is so minor and fixable. There have been several famous and gold medal winning athletes born with clubfeet like Mia Hamm and Kristy Yamaguchi and not that Vi has to win a gold medal, I would love her to have a life of enjoying the outdoors and athletics to some extent. This is what I know
1. We will be doing the Ponseti method involving a serious of weekly casts to fix her feet
2. Her feet aren't as bad as many (she rates an 8 on a scale of 20, 20 being the most severe)
3. She will have anywhere from 4-6 casts to fix her condition
4. After the casting period she may have a minor surgery involving clipping and stretching her achillies tendon and then recasting for 3 weeks
5. She will then wear these crazy cute shoes that turn her feet out and have a metal bar between them for 3 months
6. After the 3 months she will continue with this brace when she is napping or sleeping until she is 5 years old to ensure she doesn't relapse.
Just typing all of this makes me tired. But if we take it one day at a time it is gonna be fine. I even found a couple blogs with families dealing with the same thing and it has been really helpful. Check this one out cause it has good info.
3 comments:
Oh Leah she is so so precious and gorgeous! I loved the birth story and glad everything turned out fine. I'm sorry to hear about her feet but glad it won't be a big issue. I can't wait to meet her in person.
Great job mama! Loves.
Sorry to hear that you have an extra challenge in this new mom gig. Having a newborn is hard enough! It sounds like you have a positive attitude and it's great to hear that sweet Violette won't have to worry about this all her life. Good luck with everything! You are going to be such a fun, cool mom! :)
I had club feet when I was born. I still have one of the casts that were put on me. And I had hip displasia and wore a brace for... a year?
Anyway, I'm sorry that you have to deal with casts and everything for your sweet babe.
We still need to bring you dinner. Maybe we can do it on Saturday night? Let me know if that works for you.
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