Just joined this group...

[Guest guest]

,

Thanks for posting that... I really needed to hear that. Since I

will be embarking in my clubfoot journey sometime in March of 2006, I

worry about so many things. I hope that 2 or 3 years from now, I too

will be posting something like this for future cf parents.

Thanks!

Janice

P.S. I want to see pictures!

>

>

> ---------------------------------

> Jen,

>

> I think everyone else has said what needs to be said

> but I think I will still take a minute to write my

> feelings. Our fifth child was born with right club

> foot and it was a surprise at birth. The orthopedic

> we consulted with was sure it wasn't a club foot and

> we spent five long months tryin to fix our non club

> foot before we found our current doctor. And the rest

> is history I guess.

> I was just thinking today as I pulled Tenny down from

> everything he climbed on that if I could just send

> every new parent a video of my " disabled " child right

> now, no one would worry a minute about club feet. You

> will never be able to convice these babies that they

> can't do something. They learn and develop and

> surpass the expectations left and right.

> Everytime I looked at Tenny's foot for the first few

> hours it was a shock, but soon I just loved that foot.

> My older kids just loved that casts. We colored

> every one. They asked why they couldn't have casts

> and why they didn't have them when they were

> babies--life just ain't fair--Tenny gets all the fun.

>

> I remember thinking the three months of full time FAB

> wear would never end, but it does. Some days may be

> hard. I think that is part of it, and part of being

> mommy. Guess what, it is okay to have a hard time as

> long as you don't give up. Just keep going a day at a

> time. It is hard, but it is worth it. So cry a

> little (or a lot) as often as needed. One day you

> will wake up and realize that the casts are behind you

> and the FAB is just a fact of life. One day you will

> say, hey I can do this, it isn't so bad.

> I promise you that some day you will watch that

> little boy run around the house and climb on the

> kitchen table to do a rain dance. And you will kiss

> those feet every night because they are just

> beautiful. And you will sigh and want to put your son

> back into shoes just to keep him off of the table.

> Then comes the day when the shoes don't keep him off

> of the table. And finally, one day you will think of

> all the things and people you know just because of a

> little club foot. You will realize how much better

> you life is because of the club foot journey. (and

> for the wonderful parents on this list who

> understand!!!!!!) And you will look back and smile

> because it was all worth it.

>

> So hang in there, you can do this. Cameron is lucky

> to have such a caring mommy. Here is a hug from a

> mommy who is still in the middle of it all. Good

> luck.

>

> mom to

> Tenny 7/15/04 rt cf. FAB 14/7

[Guest guest]

Hello,

I loved 's post too. I made me cry b/c I think I realized how worried

about this little one (due Dec 18) that I've been over the past few months

since the ultrasound. Thanks for helping me realize that this journey isn't

so bad and will teach us much along the way. I sometimes feel so bad when I

think of her little crooked foot and feel guilty too b/c I wonder what I

might have done to cause it.

For those of you who felt guilty about the clubfoot, how did you work

through that? I guess mainly b/c I am still pregnant and hormonal/emotional

I am not as objective as i might normally be...who knows. I just keep

thinking how ironic this is that out of my 4 babies, two have birth defects.

I am thankful that this one is so correctable and shouldn't cause her

problems later in life. Still, I try to eat organic, use natural cleaners,

avoid phthalates, pbdes and all the other chemicals in the things I buy and

yet here we are with another birth defect. Oh, well I guess there are no

rhymes or reasons to it and I'll never know why it happened but it's sort of

frustrating all the same.

On another tangent all together, when you mentioned someone saying that a

baby who had a clubfoot shouldn't jump, it made me think of one of our best

friends who was born with bilateral clubfeet. He is 34 now and was treated

non-surgically and he can run circles around anyone on the basketball court

and does lots of jumping! Oh, and Kristi Yamiguchi (the gold medal figure

skater) has been known to do a few jumps in her day despite the fact she had

clubfeet as a baby.

Take care,

Halley

>

>Reply-To: nosurgery4clubfoot

>To: nosurgery4clubfoot

>Subject: Re: Just joined this group...

>Date: Wed, 9 Nov 2005 03:52:45 -0800 (PST)

>

>Thank you so much . That was such a touching story. I will remeber

>everything you said. It is so encouraging and hopful. The Dr. said Cam

>wouldn't be a jumper, but I put him in his place and said, " Have you ever

>known anything to stop a child if he/she really wants it " ). He'll jump if

>he wants to and he'll play basketball and volleyball if that what he wants

>to do and I'll cheer him on every second!! I always thought this, but

>thank you for helping truly believe it.

>Take care,

>Jen

>

>ph Grush wrote:

>Jen,

>

>I think everyone else has said what needs to be said but I think I will

>still take a minute to write my feelings. Our fifth child was born with

>right club foot and it was a surprise at birth. The orthopedic we

>consulted with was sure it wasn't a club foot and we spent five long months

>tryin to fix our non club foot before we found our current doctor. And the

>rest is history I guess.

>I was just thinking today as I pulled Tenny down from everything he climbed

>on that if I could just send every new parent a video of my " disabled "

>child right now, no one would worry a minute about club feet. You will

>never be able to convice these babies that they can't do something. They

>learn and develop and surpass the expectations left and right.

>Everytime I looked at Tenny's foot for the first few hours it was a shock,

>but soon I just loved that foot. My older kids just loved that casts. We

>colored every one. They asked why they couldn't have casts and why they

>didn't have them when they were babies--life just ain't fair--Tenny gets

>all the fun.

>I remember thinking the three months of full time FAB wear would never end,

>but it does. Some days may be hard. I think that is part of it, and part

>of being mommy. Guess what, it is okay to have a hard time as long as you

>don't give up. Just keep going a day at a time. It is hard, but it is

>worth it. So cry a little (or a lot) as often as needed. One day you will

>wake up and realize that the casts are behind you and the FAB is just a

>fact of life. One day you will say, hey I can do this, it isn't so bad.

>I promise you that some day you will watch that little boy run around the

>house and climb on the kitchen table to do a rain dance. And you will kiss

>those feet every night because they are just beautiful. And you will sigh

>and want to put your son back into shoes just to keep him off of the table.

> Then comes the day when the shoes don't keep him off of the table. And

>finally, one day you will think of all the things and people you know just

>because of a little club foot. You will realize how much better you life

>is because of the club foot journey. (and for the wonderful parents on

>this list who understand!!!!!!) And you will look back and smile because

>it was all worth it.

>

>So hang in there, you can do this. Cameron is lucky to have such a caring

>mommy. Here is a hug from a mommy who is still in the middle of it all.

>Good luck.

>

> mom to

>Tenny 7/15/04 rt cf. FAB 14/7

>

>

> Just joined this group...

>

>

> Hello Everyone!

> I just joined this group on the recommendation from the other yahoo

> website for clubfeet and I'm really glad I did.

> My husband and I did not know our son Cam had clubfoot (right) until

> after he was born. I had him by c-section and he sucked in some

> amniotic fluid on the way out and had some problems breathing at

> first. After the worst of the breathing problems were over my

> husband told me he had a right clubfoot. I had heard of this

> condition before, but never imagined that my baby would have this.

> There are no known cases in any part of mine or my husband's family,

> but people are good at keeping secrets so it's possible that someone

> just never talked about it. In the beginning I was devistated and

> thought I had done something wrong in my pregnancy to make this

> happen. I can't say I'm totally over it yet, but I'm starting to be

> able to accept that it wasn't the case. I think this ordeal has

> been one of the most emotionally trying times of my life. I never

> expected anything to be wrong since I had so many ultrasounds

> throughout my pregnancy. I sometimes wish I had known before he was

> born and that way we would have had everything researched, and

> sorted out and I wouldn't have been such an emotional wreck. I was

> so unprepared when we first met our Dr. and he said that the course

> of treatment is 3 years long. I cried for 2 days wondering how my

> little boy was going to get through this, and selfishly, how I was

> going to get through this. Cam is having his 3rd cast put on

> tomorrow and only now am I starting to be less tense about it. He

> doesn't understand what's happening to him and it crushes me

> everytime the Dr. manipulates his foot before the cast goes on. I

> know he'll never remember this part of the treatment, but he's only

> 3 1/2 weeks old and so little.

> I'm sorry this is so long, but I really needed to get this out. I

> feel so much better knowing that all of you have been through

> similar experiences and that I'm not alone.

> I look forward to meeting you all, and thanks for reading my story.

> It just feels good to get it out.

>

> Sincerely,

> Jen

> Cameron 10/14/05 right CF 3rd cast out of 12 tomorrow

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

Jen,

We found out that our daughter was going to have

clubfeet at the u/s. Yes, it was good to know ahead

of time, but I still had the same feelings. I had 20

weeks to be an emotional wreck. In addition the doctor

told us there were 250 diseases associated with

clubfeet and they couldn't test for them all. So I

worried, cried, researched and talked to several

parents from this board and asked tons of questions.

I couldn't understand what good could possibly come of

this. I yelled at God and was so stressed I was put

on bedrest for the last 7 weeks of my pregnancy. I

had a 15 month old son who couldn't understand why

mommy couldn't pick him up. My faith was ultimately

restored.

Our daughter is now four. Her feet are perfect. She

walks, runs, fights with her brother and does

everything that other kids do. She wants to take

ballet and we may let her (I'm boycotting activities

until the kids are a little older).

I can remember thinking when we started the process

that 2-4 years in the brace is a long time. I can't

believe we are done now. It has gone so fast. As

others have said the brace wasn't a big deal at all.

She even told the babysitters how to put it on. No

matter who watched her she had it on. It didn't stop

her or change our life at all.

I feel that God, the master of the universe, lovingly

and carefully molded her feet exactly like he wanted

them. Dr. Ponseti, the clubfeet master, lovingly,

carefully molded her feet in plaster just as God

wanted him to and corrected her feet.

God has blessed us with wonderful friends through this

experience. He has given us the opportunity to say to

other parents who have considered abortion, that they

should have their baby and love him or her. It has

given us a greater faith to help us deal with other

difficult things in our lives.

We feel very blessed to have gone through with this

experience and to see how everything has worked out.

You mentioned that your child is on 3 of 12 casts.

How do you know what is going to be needed? Is your

doctor a Ponseti dr? The typical clubfoot should only

require 5-7 casts?

Just asking

Joanne and Alaya 8-22-01

[Guest guest]

Yes! We want to see those STRAIGHT little tootsies!

--- number23 wrote:

> Well I won't say it's not hormones! LOL! I had a

> case of those last week, oiy! My poor husband!

>

> Hey I found out today I get to have that Level 2

> ultrasound next week, lets hope the little booger

> shows his feet to us this time!

> s.

>

> -----

> Hey, at least I wasn't the only one in tears! I

> was beginning to

> think it was my raging hormones.

>

> ---

>

>

> [Non-text portions of this message have been

> removed]

>

>

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