Three years!

Look who's three!

We've made it 3 whole years in Ponseti braces. (and I say "we" like I wear them too, but let's face it, this has been a family-wide effort) When we first began this journey with Grant's club foot, 3 years in braces seemed like an eternity.  So excuse me while I toot my horn for having lasted this long.  A few months ago Grant learned to undo the straps, and started sneaking them off after we put him in bed. But we scared him out of that little habit by explaining he'd have a crooked foot and have to wear a cast again. Thankfully he's been really good about it since then, even reminding my husband and I to put them on at night.

Current club foot research suggests wearing the braces at night for 4-5 years to prevent relapse.  At this point I feel like if Grant stopped wearing them, he'd probably be fine. But since Grant still wears them without much complaint, we'll see how much longer we can go!

Big Boy Bed

This is my baby.

Without asking permission, my baby decided he's a big boy and began insisting he sleep in a big boy bed. I knew this day would come soon enough and that it was just a matter of time before he claimed the bottom bunk in his room as his own. I expected it to be a much bigger deal than it was.  Turns out Grant can get in and out of the bed even in his braces.  Which makes for a noisy clunk clunk clunk when he tries sneaking out of bed and crawling down the hallway.  Thankfully I can still threaten to put him back in the crib if he keeps getting out of bed, so it's been a rather easy transition.

However, I was totally surprised by how much noise it makes when his feet hit the adjoining wall to our bedroom. It sounds like the house is falling down!  And I'm sure that in time, that wall is going to be all dinged up. Maybe I could wrap his shoes in bubble wrap!

Two and half years down, only only one a half more to go!!

Custom Sleep Sack

I've been worried about Grant at night. Because of the braces, every time he rolls over, he dumps his blanket off. I'm up several times during the night anyway, so I go into his room and put the blankets back on. But it's still sad to know he's cold part of the night. I could double up (or even triple!) his pajamas, but his feet still won't get the added warmth. I looked at some "sleep sacks" online, and besides being expensive, I wasn't sure they were even wide enough to accommodate his braces.

I told my mom I was thinking about making a "sleep sack" for Grant. Well, upon hearing that one of her grandchildren was cold at night, my mom set out to immediately remedy that little problem. Before I knew it, she had found a couple extra fleece blankets, bought a pattern, and set out to make Grant's custom sleep sack.  It's two layers thick, and I especially love the sleeves on it.

It took a little bribing to get it on him the first time, but after the first night, he loved it!!  He told Grandma over and over how warm he was. He loves his sleep sack. And I love knowing that he's warm and cozy all night.

Thank you Mom!!

Happy Birthday little buddy!

Two years in braces...

(minus the first 7 weeks of casting)

... and only 2 more to go.

Flashback

I found these pictures the other day. I had stashed them away and never blogged them because I was so upset about how they turned out.

I suppose now I can talk about it. :P

You see, I had taken Grant in to a local department store portrait studio (which shall remain unnamed) to have his pictures taken the day before we started casting. I told the photographer I specifically wanted full-body pictures because we were about to start casting and I wanted good pictures to remember his wonky little foot. I thought I was clear about what I wanted.

It was hard to tell during the session how zoomed in she was as she snapped photos. But later as we were looking at the proofs on their computer screen, it was all I could do to keep from crying.

Who am I kidding? I did start to cry.

She hadn't done anything I asked. She had lots and lots of adorable close-ups of Grant's face and then these 2 lame pictures of his entire body, one with eyes half closed and the other with his hand in front of his face.

I know the logical thing to do would have been to ask her to take more.

But I was 6 days post-partum. I was overtired. And I was incredibly emotional at the thought of taking my week old baby to begin casting.

And now I wouldn't have any decent pictures to remember my beautiful little newborn with his clubfoot.

My eyes welled up with tears and my face turned red as I picked out these two pictures. I could tell the photographer was a bit confused about my reaction. But I'm terrible at confrontation so I did everything I could to keep from completely losing it right there in the store. Then I loaded up my baby into the car and burst into tears.
I went home and that afternoon took a bunch of my own pictures, which are the ones I eventually blogged here. But it's always bothered me that I didn't get better pictures from the studio, especially since I was such a wimp about asking the photographer to take more.

Crisis Averted

Grant had his appointment at Shriners outreach clinic recently. I was worried about the visit because a couple people there had said things that sounded as though they would only have Grant wear his braces for 2 years. I know Dr. Ponseti's research indicated that the braces should be worn at least 3 years to prevent a relapse. Then, I heard that the most recent recommendation is to wear them 4 or 5 years old.

Needless to say, I was worried that Shriners wouldn't continue to provide the necessary shoes and bar for Grant beyond 2 years. But with how generous Shriners has been to us, I also didn't feel like I could insist they continue his care when they've already given us so much. So before the appointment I was already considering finding a local orthopedic specialist covered by our insurance to pick up his care.

It just so happened the day of the Shriner's appointment I was checking out of the hospital with Grant's new baby brother, so my husband took him. It was the first appointment my husband had ever been to, due to his busy work schedule, so I had prepped him on exactly what I wanted him to say.

Apparently I had worried for nothing, because the doctor that saw Grant said that they wanted him in braces until he was 4 years old. I am much relieved!! They got an order ready to send us the next size shoes, which just came in the mail. And Grant is still happily wearing his shoes each night, because he doesn't know any different. :)

And speaking of baby brothers, here's Grant with his mini-me. I think they look a lot alike, and I'm going to have a hard time telling their baby pictures apart, unless they include their legs and feet!

18 months later and still looking good!

Check it out- I'm actually updating this blog for the couple people (if there are any) who check this and/or are subscribed to it with Google Reader.

As far as Grant's clubfoot goes, things are pretty boring these days. Technically his foot has been corrected since he was 7 weeks old. His braces are just to make sure that his foot doesn't start to turn back in. If it does, I'm pretty sure we go back to casts and "start over" to some degree.

So 9 nights out of 10 (at least), Grant wears his braces for a full 12 hours as he sleeps. I asked him if I could take a picture before we snapped the bar onto the shoes, so he backed up and gave me this pose! What a goofy kid! These are the same shoes we got last July. You can tell his toes are now hanging over the edge, so we'll need to get him a new pair of shoes soon.
As soon as I put the bar in, Grant tried crawling away to play with the toys. He can stand and wobble a couple steps worth before he falls back down. If you hold his hands he can shimmy his way around quite well. He thinks it's pretty funny. For obvious reasons, we don't put him in the bar unless he's going right to bed.
At our last check-up (a really, really, really long time ago), the doctor said his foot is looking great, to keep an eye out in case it starts to turn back in and to come back "sometime next summer." It's about time I call to make that appointment, especially because we're going to need new shoes for him.
This is Grant's typical sleeping pose-- he lays down on the pillow and puts his bum up in the air like a little stink bug! He does toss and turn quite a bit during the night so the crib slats are taking quite a beating. We're going to have to refinish it for future kiddos!

This is the most recent picture of Grant's bare feet. His right foot has a large "dimple" on the outside edge that you can see in the close-up below. I assume it's from his clubfoot because he doesn't have that on his other foot. He's had that all along and no doctor has said anything about it, so I assume it's okay. ?? But otherwise his foot looks completely normal. His clubfoot is slightly smaller than the other foot, but not enough to make a difference in shoe sizes.

Everything I've read online from the clubfoot specialist, Dr. Ponseti, says that braces should be worn until 3 years old. By then the chance of relapse is very slim. At our last appointment something the doctor said made me think he wasn't worried about Grant wearing braces past 2 years old. I hope that I just misunderstood him and don't have to raise a stink about wearing them longer. I'd rather him continue to wear them because right now Grant doesn't complain about the braces. If we stop early and he were to relapse, I can only imagine the fight we'd have trying to get him back into braces after time out of them!

Ruining perfectly good pajamas

I pulled out a box of Justin's old winter pajamas and it suddenly dawned on me....

You can't put footed pajamas into Ponseti braces.

Well, I suppose you could. But the braces are snug. And I don't think that would be comfortable.

I debated briefly about going out and buying footless sleepers.

Nah.

Instead, I just hacked off the bottoms of his pajamas so I could put on socks.

So much for handing these down should we ever have another boy.

Size 3 Magic Shoes

We had a follow-up appointment for Grant recently. He was measured for new shoes since he had outgrown his others months ago and we were squishing his feet into them. There was some confusion over the appropriate shoe size. I think there's so much overlap between the measurements for each size, that's it's difficult to find the right shoe without actually trying them on. So 2 UPS shipments and three pairs later, he's finally fitted into a size 3. There is plenty of room to grow in these shoes, but I'm all about getting the most out of each pair since they are pricey little gadgets. He also got a new bar (not pictured) because this one is as wide as it will go. I can tell when the bar needs to be widened because Grant starts getting restless at night-- tossing and turning until I take the bar out or the shoes off. Now that he is fitted with the right size gear, I can recommit to the braces at night.

Only 26 1/2 more months of braces to go!

Achey feet

Things have been mostly uneventful lately. We had a follow-up appointment at one of Shriner's outreach clinics with a doctor I hadn't met before. He looked his foot over and said it looked great and told us to set up another appointment for next time.

Unfortunately the last week or so Grant has decided that he doesn't like the braces. He's been tossing and turning and fussing all night long, keeping us all awake. A couple of times when I've been desperate I've taken the bar out, or taken his shoes off completely and he sleeps better. But I know that in the long run that's not going to help anything, especially if he relapses and we have to go back to casts.

I'd like to see about getting a Dobbs "Dynamic Clubfoot Bar." It allows the child to kick their legs independently while still holding their feet in the correct position. They can even crawl without a problem with this bar. I'm hoping that it will help Grant (and me) but I'm afraid to even find out how much they cost, since Shriners doesn't have them. So we'll see if Grant's sleep issues resolve themself, or if I get desperate and buy a Dobbs.

Grateful

I love watching Grant play with his feet.

Every single time I see Grant grab his pudgy little toes, I'm reminded of how grateful I am that I live when and where I do, and that his club foot was so easy to fix.

Rolling

The other day someone asked if Grant was so fat because he hasn't been able to move his legs. I got a good chuckle out of that. He kicks his legs plenty. In fact, when he gets kicking his legs with his braces on, it sounds like he's going to knock a hole in the floor! We can only blame his adorable chub on mama's milk and genetics! :)

His braces certainly aren't holding him back. He learned to roll over this week, braces and all. I almost think his braces make it easier to roll, though he can roll without them as well. (and yes, I know the kid needs a bib!)

Update on Grant's braces

We had an very brief appointment a couple weeks ago for Grant. I've just been lazy about posting here. The doctor said his foot looked good and to keep wearing the braces for 23 hours/day for another month, and then scale back to naps and night time. The doctor we saw when Grant first got his braces said to wear them 23 hours/day until Grant could sit up or about 6 months old. And then (of course) the information on the Ponseti website is slightly different too, with a gradual adjustment working your way down to naps and nights.

So I haven't quite decided what we're going to do exactly. But I do know that I'm sick of the braces already. Grant is so heavy to carry around and the braces make it that much more awkward. Not to mention the bar tends to hit me in the leg or knee when I sit down with him. Grant may not care much about wearing his "special shoes" but I am anxious to get them off!!

All in all, I have to say this process has gone by pretty fast and I'm grateful that it's been as easy as it has. Down the road when he's jumping and running like every other kid, no one will ever know this little drool monster ever had a problem. :)

More Perfect Feet

My sister took these pictures of Grant and did a wonderful job. I think his foot looks so good! His right foot is a little smaller than his left foot, but that's expected with a club foot. And I took his braces and socks off a couple hours before the photo shoot, but you can still see the sock marks on his legs. I guess that's what happens when you're adorably fat.
And another one just because he's cute!

Grant's casts

I finally rounded up Grant's casts to take a picture of them all. Well, all except the first one that was thrown away before I decided I wanted to keep them for a picture. So this is cast #2 to cast #5. Now that they are digitally recorded for posterity, I threw them out. I keep telling myself, "I am not a hoarder. I am not a hoarder. I do not collect junk." So far I've withstood the urge to climb into the garbage to get them out.