In just 5 weeks my chubby monkey has gained 3.6 super healthy lbs!



Onto cast #3! We're getting there!

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**UPDATE:

So at about 1:30 in the morning, my husband and I decided to remove Ava's cast. Shortly after we got home from getting her 3rd cast put on, she started crying in pain. I noticed that her toes were wrapped really tight. The last 2 casts she was able to flex her toes on my finger but not with this one. Her toes were packed together so tight that she couldn't move them at all. Her big toe was the worst and as soon as I touched it gently she would cry out in agony. Her toes were still pink so we weren't sure what to do. We called the emergency type number that the Clubfoot clinic had provided to us for such situations - It was a pager where we were to leave our number and the evening/on-call therapist would call us back. I must have called 10 times throughout the evening and left our house number and cell phone numbers. We never did get a call back.  I tried calling the Clubfoot clinics regular phone number as well but it just gave me a message stating that they were closed for the evening.

From 5pm to 1:30am Ava stopped crying a handful of times for maybe 20 minutes each.
 
Finally at 1:30am my Husband and I could not handle seeing out baby girl in pain any more and the number we were told to call - obviously wasn't going to call us back. ..so we took the cast off.
Instant relief for Ava and ourselves. Our baby girl wasn't in pain anymore.

We were so angry, sad and tired.

In the morning my Husband called the clinic and we got a hold of the same therapist that had put the 3rd cast on. She told us to come in and we did. We voiced our concerns as to what the problem was and she put a new cast on Ava.
That was at 9 this morning. It is now 4:30pm and our baby has been nothing but her happy self all day. Her toes can wiggle and the cast is still doing its job.

These are gifts to my baby girl from my friend Stephanie:


My baby girl has her very first hand-made stuffy!! *SQUEE!!* My friend Stephanie was so kind as to make this amazeball Bowser for us from scratch!! I seriously cannot thank Stephanie enough! I could never crochet anything like this but I wanted a Bowser for our little Princess Peach SO bad.  He's just so detailed and perfect,  I am so in love with it!!

(Bowser & Ava)

Dear Ava Atari,

One month ago was one of the most precious days of my life. I met you, on the outside, for the first time. I remember the doctor giving you to me and then I held you close to me on my chest, like it was yesterday. And now, here we are---a whole month, sweet girl.

You definitely bring more joy and brightness to our lives. You, literally, without even knowing it, light up our faces when we see you each morning. Sean and Paris love being your big brother & sister.

I know at a month old you don't "do" much---but here's what I know about you so far:

You are a preemie feeding machine! You love your milk! (Boob & a little formula) You eat more than I can produce at the moment. You take 90ml-150ml  of milk each feeding time. You usually go between 2-4 hours between boob/bottles, and have been known to demand more after just 1 hour! At night you like to eat at 11pm-Midnight, again at around 3-4am and then again at 6-7am. You like to wake at those times in the night, wide awake for about an hour just eating, looking around or talking to me. During the day you can sleep through heavy noises. Dogs barking? So what. Brother screaming through his headset playing XBox? Who cares! Vacuum going? What vacuum? You're pretty chill in that regard. You sleep better the closer you are to me. I don't blame you, it's comforting to be near momma---and I'm honestly soaking it up.

You make the silliest faces. You're giving us even more smiles these days even though I'm sure it's just gas. You don't mind tummy time, at all. You especially like it if you know we're right near you. You love your baths, especially with me which breaks my heart because since getting your cast on last week to correct your club foot-- you cannot get it wet. Meaning now you are only getting sponge baths.

You like to pee (and sometimes poop) during diaper changes so we have learned to "give you a minute".

You don't mind being buckled in your carseat at all and you're pretty happy the moment the van starts and we're on our way, you pass right out.

We're just about ready to move you up to size 1 diapers and you're still in newborn clothes, however; 0-3 months fit a little big but work as well. You weighed a whopping 8lbs 6oz the last time we checked at your pediatrician appointment last week, and are 20" long! That's up 2.5lbs and 1" in less than a month!

Sweet Ava, I stare at you all the time. I just love holding you in my arms. It's crazy to think about how you were a month early and that you weren't even supposed to be born until today!

I just know how fast this all goes and I want to soak in all your sweet babyness, because it's so stinkin' precious and I just adore you so much.

Love being your momma, always.

Milestones
    Holding your head up for around 10 seconds.
    Becoming more alert - you look around at your surroundings and I catch you watching me.
    Smiling - yes I know it's probably just gas but I like to think you're actually a happy smiley baby!

Things you like
    Milk, milk and more milk!
    Cuddles with Mum and Dad.
    The motion when you're in the car.
    TV noise {it makes you fall asleep}.
    Music - any type, you like it when Mum and Dad listen to music - the louder the better!
    Your bouncy chair - the vibrating setting makes you fall asleep.
    Bath time! You love the water.
    Making crazy faces..

 And in case you just came for the pictures...

(Don't worry Ava, Daddy's got you)


Wow!! What an improvement already! Ava has been fantastic about having a cast on her leg and we couldn't ask for a more chill baby!

So today we had Ava's first cast put on. The doctor put a net style stocking on Ava's leg and then covered it with a soft cast.
I wanted nothing more than to sob uncontrollably in the doctor's office (which I didn't) while they covered up my baby's entire leg in a cast. - Knowing that her little foot would be hidden for the next few months made me so sad. Ava doesn't seem to mind it. It was certainly worse for me than it was for her. While my head is telling me I'm glad the process has begun so she will be healed sooner, my heart just aches for my little girl. And perhaps just a little for myself. The cast just seems so big and heavy. One of her favorite things to do is to scootch her little clubfoot right up close to her bum and she can't do that now. Another thing that makes me sad is that she LOVES taking baths with me. She loves being in the warm water and sleeps so well afterwards. Now she can't have baths because she can't get the cast wet.

I'm also not a big fan of getting looks from strangers. I feel like they're wondering why our baby's in a full leg cast...

*sigh* this feels like it's going to be a really long road.

Our Ava was born with a unilateral, isolated clubfoot (meaning, it's just one foot, and nothing else is wrong that could be related).  We found out while at our first Ultrasound at 8 weeks pregnant. My

Husband was born with a clubfoot as well but unfortunately we don't know a lot of the details as my mother-in-law does not remember much about it. Steve has always been great at sports and you can't even tell he had a clubfoot, so that makes me feel a little better.

Clubfoot, also called congenital talipes equinovarus (CTEV), is one of the most common, non-life threatening, major birth defects among infants globally. Approximately one in every 1,000 newborns has clubfoot. Of those, one in three have both feet clubbed. The exact cause is unknown. Two out of three clubfoot babies are boys. Clubfoot is twice as likely to occur if one or both parents and/or a sibling has had it. Clubfoot is something completely treatable and worlds away from some of the things other little babies have to endure. We are lucky that her foot is treatable and that she's such an easy-going baby anyway.

So to those of you wondering about the whole Clubfoot process, it's a non-surgical treatment procedure known as the Ponseti method.

A specific method of:

-manipulation to stretch contracted ligaments:
This 6-8 week long process casts the foot gradually into the correct position from side to side (opposite of the way it curves). During treatment each week, the cast is removed and replaced with a new cast that incrementally moves the foot into the correct position.



-tenotomy:
When the foot is corrected from side to side and is straight, Ava will need a Tenotomy so that it is then corrected to moving up & down. A Tenotomy is a small procedure done in the clinic where a surgeon makes a small cut in the back of her ankle to lengthen the heel cord. There is a numbing cream applied and a freezing agent injected into the area and that's it. It's quick and easy process all while Ava is awake. It's not too painful during the healing process and we can give Ava some baby Tylenol IF there is any discomfort-- which there shouldn't be. Apparently the treatment is pretty painless for babies - perhaps just a little frustrating. Most say it's worse for the parents.
Then she will be in a cast for another 3 weeks while she heals.


-bracing:
Once she's done with the casting, the foot is technically "fixed," but it can move back So she will have these little plastic boots she will wear that are connected to each other by a metal bar (keeping her feet about shoulder-width apart, feet at a certain angle). She will wear this contraption for 23 hours a day, for 3 straight months. After that, she will wear the bar only while sleeping, for the next few years of her life, until she's about four. The boots and bar act like a retainer might for your teeth after braces.

Morning conversations change when there's a baby in the house.
Steve: "..she [Ava] barfed on the side of her head.."