Our Son's Special Feet

This photo was taken a few days after our son was born. It’s taken me a while to share this. Perhaps a part of me was ashamed... but I know that sharing things can make it easier on the heart. Besides, I don’t have anything to be ashamed of. I have a very special boy who was born with very special feet.

Our sweet boy was born with bilateral clubfoot - a condition that occurs in 1 of 1,000 births. His first month of life has consisted of weekly visits to change out his soft Ponseti casts which help to correct his feet. His feet has healed incredibly fast and this coming Thursday he will have his tenotomy surgery (the cutting of the Achilles’ tendon).

After that, he graduates to boots and bars (which he’ll wear for 23 hours a day 7 days a week and then only at naps and nighttime). Afterward, his feet will be FULLY CORRECTED and I can’t wait until that day. 🙌🏻 But until then my heart aches because he has to go through this... especially whenever his casts are changed because he cries and it just breaks me. And I’m dreading the tenotomy because he’ll have to be under anesthesia. It’s taken my whole being not to look up what can go wrong.

All these emotions coupled with postpartum hormones have made me a crying mess at times. A part of me worries that people will think there’s something wrong with him - even though there isn’t. And sometimes I miss how his feet used to look. Even though I cried when I first saw them. Then there are other times I feel as if I did something wrong. It’s irrational, I know.

A part of me struggled to even share this because, like I told my friend Megan, it isn’t my story to tell - it’s our son’s. But she was right in telling me that it’s just as much my story as it is his. I’m a #clubfootmama and I’m so proud of my sweet boy.

But I can't wait until after the tenotomy surgery because after that he'll wear casts for only three more weeks and then I get to see his beautiful legs again!