We're nearly there

When you had been in my tummy for 20 weeks, they took your picture inside my tummy and they told me that you had Talipes (Clubfoot). I was scared and sad. Now, I read posts on sites from other parents who are scared and sad at the beginning of their journeys. I want to share our journey to help the other mummies and daddies. I've written about this before (http://laurahigh1977.blogspot.com/2014/06/chapter-1-talipes.html) but now...now we are less than a year from never having to wear your boots and bar again and we should always remember this journey, for us and for others. 

I took this picture today. 4 years ago, we didn't know what our Talipes journey had in store for us

A lot of people don't know what Talipes is. A lot of people think that Clubfoot means one big foot. It doesn't. Here's a picture. It just means that your foot is twisted around the wrong way.

Image via nursingcrib.com

After about 4 weeks of casting, the doctors had repositioned your little foot and you were ready for your boots and bar. These would hold your feet shoulder width apart with a metal bar for 23 hours a day for 3 months then 12 hours a day until you were 5. Until you were 5! That felt like forever. It may be a cliché but time flies by so fast. To the other Mummies and Daddies just starting out on this journey, never, ever dwell on the Talipes or you'll miss the other things and that stuff is way more precious. 

I cried all my tears when you were in my tummy. Once we had embarked on the journey together I was done with my tears and was ready to be strong with you. My only focus was making sure that your treatment was no big deal and as routine as putting on socks. It worked. You slept through for 13 hours a night from being a little baby until.....well, you still do. Your boots and bars are just like pyjamas. You don't question them. I mentioned tonight that you won't have them when you're 5. You looked sad and said that you'd miss them. You asked if we can keep them for your teddy.

Your boots and bar and Right Bunny

My amazing little girl who takes everything in her little, but perfect, stride x

An update on your Talipes (Clubfoot)

It's weird. When you were born I didn't take any photos of your feet. Other parents on Talipes groups and forums took lots of pictures and shared and talked about them. I didn't. It's one regret I have. It's also how I deal with difficult things. I'm a bit of an ostrich.

Anyway, here you are three years into your journey with Talipes. When you're bigger you won't remember all this so this is to show you what your treatment was like. Talipes can be hereditary and if you have children one day, and if they have Talipes, then it might be interesting to look back at how the treatment has changed. You are having Ponseti treatment which was pioneered by Dr Ignacio Ponseti at the University of Iowa and has been practiced in the UK for less than twenty years now. Before this the only option was painful surgery which didn't always work very well. Some children, in countries with not much money, still don't have access to this treatment so we are very lucky indeed. 

Your boots and bar that you've worn every night since you were 8 weeks old (the boots have changed as your feet have grown - clearly)

I still vividly remember having to put these on you, my tiny little eight week old baby. All of my instincts were to wrap you in soft comfy things and swaddle you as I had since you were born. As it was I had to put these hard heavy boots on your tiny little feet held shoulder width apart by a metal bar. I knew it was right. It just felt wrong. 

Wearing your boots and bar tonight

Despite the initial shock and heartache at finding out there was something wrong with my baby and then having to go through all the treatment you have embraced it as you have everything we have presented as normal, everyday life. We've never given you the room or the cause to question them and so, you never have. Even during the worst tantrums, luckily, you've never thought to refuse them. Every other part of your bedtime routine has been refused at some point so I am delighted it hasn't extended to your boots. You currently tell me "they're not boots Mummy, they're dragon heads." Then you lift your feet to make them fly.

Minnie Mouse wears your old boots to help her feet too!

You have another two years of wearing your boots and bar and I hope that you continue to accept them as you have done. I will try to explain more to you as you get a bit bigger and I know you'll understand. 

I love you x