He is such a sweet little guy and we all love him to pieces.
I learned a huge lesson during this pregnancy and labor/delivery and that one thing is that no matter how much we plan and hope and expect something to go one way, in the end, we really don't have much control over it. Especially when it comes to something like this. When I first found out that I was pregnant I decided that this pregnancy was going to go much differently than my first. To make a long story short, we had to switch from a midwife group to a regular OB, ended up having a bunch of extra ultrasounds and after about 20 hours of labor, ended up having a last minute c-section when my plan was to have an unmedicated labor with very minimal ultrasounds and was hoping for a much easier labor and delivery than I had with Sommer.
We also found out at our 20 week ultrasound that our little guy would most likely be born with bilateral talipes (otherwise known as clubfoot - a congenital deformity (present at birth) in
which the affected foot appears rotated internally at the ankle - the
foot points down and inwards and the soles of the feet face each other.) and it was such a huge shock. We were scared and had no idea what to expect but after doing some research, reading a few blogs of parents who have been through this whole thing and meeting with a great high risk doctor, we started to feel somewhat prepared. We spent the rest of our pregnancy going to doctors appointments, having ultrasounds and trying to learn as much as we could about clubfoot. I'm hoping to share our story with clubfoot here so that anyone who finds themselves facing this as well, might find a little comfort in knowing our experience as well.
When we met our little guys on July 12, sure enough, he did have clubfoot and when he was 8 days old, we traveled to Philly to see our orthopedic doctor at CHOP. Our doctor is trained in the Ponseti Method of treating clubfoot - something we familiarized ourselves with before he was born and that day, he had a cast put on each foot and leg to start his treatment. Our ortho will become our new best friend as we will be seeing him weekly to get new casts put on until Asher is ready for the next step in treatment. We were so excited to find out though, that Asher's feet are a very mild case of clubfoot and he may only require 3 or 4 sets of casts.
Our first few days with casts were a bit difficult as I'm sure they are quite uncomfortable for our little guy. By now, he seems to be used to them and can lift them and move them around quite well. We head back to Philly for our second set of casts on Monday and an updated idea of what his treatment looks like as we move forward. I can't wait to see his little legs again after 12 days behind those casts!!
Baby leg warmers have been amazing to cover the casts this week!
We have loved these first 2 weeks with our little guy. Sommer has been the best big sister to him and can not get enough of giving him kisses and singing to him. We could all truly sit on the couch and snuggle with him all day. :o) He is the best addition to our little family and I can't wait to share more of our adventures with two littles over the next weeks, months and years.
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