Heads Up

Just to keep everyone in the loop, Lehr and I have been pretty busy researching this last week – the initial ultrasound showed that our little guy has bilateral (2) club feet. That is something I obviously plagued him with because I was born with one (I believe Lehr calls it my ‘freak’ leg?). We're not too concerned with long-term effects – if something has to be ‘wrong’, we're thankful it’s this because I turned out just fine. It will mean a lot of leg casting and braces on his feet the first few years though, so I’m glad we know now and can research our options. We go to a prenatal specialist in 10 days to do a more in-depth ultrasound and determine if there is anything they’re missing or misdiagnosing. We will have to wait until he gets out to start any treatments/correction; he’ll mostly likely be casted that first week. It’s not genetic, but it can be hereditary (kinda contradictory, I think). But we didn’t’ know it could be hereditary till after we found out about our little man…no one else in my family has it, and when I was born they said it was just because of the way my mom carried me inside of her (a little too cramped) that caused it – not biology. Anyway, we’ve been doing a lot of research, and the outlook is really good for long term. They use the same kind of treatment (basically) that they did when I was born, and it is really effective in correcting the problem within a year or so. He should still walk at a ‘normal’ age, and he probably won’t remember a thing. So not only are we glad we know now so that we can research and prepare, but also it saves us from buying clothes/socks/shoes he won’t be able to use. (Pants will have to be bigger (to fit over the full-leg casts) and shoes are not an option since he’ll wear a brace (with shoes attached) once he’s out of the casts.) Every little bit of preparing helps!! Be prepared for the red and blue casts when he comes home (it’ll be close to post-season Cubs baseball at that time).