Jacob was born on 22 Sept 2010. My labor was ridiculously easy. I never once actually felt like I was in labor the whole time! He was healthy and perfect (7lb 1oz and 20in) except for one of his little feet. The doctors diagnosed him with a positional club foot, which basically meant he didn't have enough room to grow inside me and his foot was bent into an abnormal position. At two weeks old his pediatrician sent us to see an orthopedist who then sent us to see a children's physical therapist. His therapist (Denise) was wonderful. She did a series of castings called Ponsetti castings which stretched the muscles little by little with each cast until he was back to an almost normal position. Denise was very caring and concerned with Jake's well-being and made the whole process a lot easier to handle. Each cast was left on for one week, and he had a total of five casts before he went back to see the orthopedist. Dr. Rozzi decided that although Jake had made a TON of progress, he would need to have an Achilles tenotomy (where they make a small incision and cut the Achilles tendon). We went in for Jake's re-check on a Monday, and his surgery was scheduled for that Wednesday. Another cast was put on Jake's leg for two weeks to hold his foot in a flexed position while the tendon grew back. We were just able to take his cast off this past Thursday (Dec 9) for his post-op check with Dr. Rozzi. He said that the surgery went great, and Jake has healed perfectly! He can flex his foot wonderfully now, but he will need a brace called a Dennis Brown bar (it's got special shoes that attach to a bar that will hold his feet at a specific angle so his club foot doesn't return since the muscles are used to the wrong position). He will have to wear the bar 24/7 for three months, and after that he will have to wear it just at night for a couple years. All things considered, he's doing really well. He has a hard time eating still and spits up a lot. Hopefully once he gets used to having his brace on (which he should get Monday), he won't be as stressed and will do better with that. I think he may be a bit behind on being able to push his chest/head off the ground when he's on his belly, but I have to remember that he hasn't been able to spend any time on his belly because of his casts thus far. As of his 2mo checkup two weeks ago, he weighed in at a whopping 10lb 8oz and 22in long. Seems like he's growing faster than I can get the next size clothing unpacked from the storage bins!
John is doing really well, too. He is getting soooo big! He absolutely loves his baby brother. We'll tell John "go check on your brother," and he'll walk over and plant a big ole "mmmmmmwah!" kiss on Jake's forehead. He's running and climbing like a crazy little man now, and he doesn't let anything stand in his way. John also has braces on his feet, but they're for a completely different issue than what Jake has. When John walks, he rolls his feet in toward each other so he's basically walking on the arches. His pediatrician sent us to a podiatrist who said the issue could potentially cause major problems later on, and he sent us off to a place that would order special braces called SureSteps for him. They're just a plastic little thing that molds to his foot and uses pressure to hold his feet in the right position while he's walking. He wears them inside his shoes, and he absolutely loves them. When we take them off for naptime or bedtime, he actually gets upset and tries to put them back on! We can see a HUGE difference in his balance and walking while he's wearing the braces compared to when they're not on, and we're extremely happy we decided to get this taken care of now. He will have to wear the braces for several years most likely, but if it fixes the problem then we're okay with that!
Josh and I are doing well, too. Josh is now working full-time at WalMart in Niles unloading trucks. The only bad part is that his hours are 4pm-1am, but at least it's money! He's also in the running for South Bend Police Department. We aren't sure exactly when they're planning on hiring, but Josh knows several people who work there and it seems like things should be moving along fairly quickly. It would be an insanely huge blessing if Josh could get hired on there (and soon)! ... Not much is new with me. I stay home with the boys, get little sleep because Jake has decided it's still not fun to sleep through the night, and enjoy watching our babies grow and learn.
And here are some pics for y'all to enjoy! (Those of you who get email updates may not be able to view the pics until you visit the actual blog) ...
-Here is the progress made on Jake's foot with Just the casting. The top pics are how his foot was turned in at birth, and the bottom pics are after his 4th cast. His leg is nice and straight now, and with the tenotomy done, he can flex his ankle much farther than you see in the bottom set of pictures.
-Here's our lil man jake. He was born with a full head of dark hair, and he hasn't lost much of it yet! His eyes are turning into a beautiful light blue just like his brother's and daddy's.
-This is John's reaction when he sees us pull out the camera and start taking pictures. I bet I have hundreds of photos of him with this big ole cheesy grin and his eyes all scrunched up like this. He's too cute!
-And here is John wanting to give his brother a kiss, but Jake obviously wasn't too thrilled with that idea! lol :)
1 comment:
enjoyed reading ur update,so glad u r all doing great! :):)
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