Little Cherub

This little boy is 14 lbs and 4 ounces at 3 months 3 weeks!

Timothy's clubbed foot casting process

We found out at 16 weeks of pregnancy that Timothy had a clubbed foot: possibly two. We thought at the time, that he was just like his daddy, who had to have two casts for a while as an infant. Turns out, it is very different: Timothy's is related to his spina bifida. He will always have one foot broader than the other, and the muscles on his leg won't develop as well. Plus he needs to have tenotomies: a process where they slice the Achilles tendon to stretch it out long enough to flatten his foot out. He will also need to wear braces for 4 years. 

Here is Timothy's foot at birth: he only had one clubbed foot, but the other was bent tightly due to him being breach. 

 This is Timothy's foot right before they put on his first cast. We had mixed feelings about getting that cute foot fixed: Timothy has always been perfect to us: but we certainly wanted to give him the best chance for mobility that we could.

 This was after his first cast! I couldn't believe how quickly his foot straightened out!

 After the second cast: his toe was pointed like a ballet dancer due to the tight Achilles tendon.

 On cast 3 or 4, we ran into an issue: Timothy's foot slipped back in his cast! Luckily we were up in Salt Lake at the time, so we just ran him over to Shriner's and got his cast cut off. We had caught it early enough that he just had some rub burns and pressure marks but no sores. But his foot swelled up so much that he couldn't get recasted til the swelling went down. He had his other foot casted at the same time to stretch that out more, but they cut that cast off as well so we could bathe him and not worry about casts still he was ready to start again. We had to flex his feet frequently to keep them from losing progress.

 I love that they had these cute baby headphones to protect his hearing! He has always been so chill when they are cutting off his casts!

    For his 5th cast, they hyper-extended his foot to give it the flexibility that a normal foot does. He hated this week. We had to keep him on Tylenol because he was so uncomfortable.
The 6th cast was his tenotomy: which was easier than I expected. It took about 1 minute, and when I came back in he was crying, but he was hungy: I fed him and he calmed right down. He actually seemed much more comfortable: certainly more than the previous week. He did bleed through his cast a little, but they told us to expect that.
   The cast was supposed to stay on for 3 weeks for his tendon to heal back up. But at exactly 2 weeks, I checked his toes and they were so scrunched they looked folded on themselves and broken! I drove back up to Shriners and they cut the cast off. His incision was doing well, but his foot had slipped badly enough that he had no heel and he had a deep sore on his foot. They wanted to go straight to bracing, but his his was to flat to fit in the shoe. So they gave us a splint.
   The next day the wound was very hot to the touch, so we put him on an antibiotic.

 Timothy was so thrilled to be able to lift his legs: he spent the entire week in this position: totally extreme straddles. I guess having dislocated hips helps flexibility a bit.

They were about to put the casts back on after a week: yes, i said casts. They put one on each foot. They think this will be his last casts, and next Monday he should be able to get his braces.  He will wear those for 3 months 24/7, and then during nights and naps for the next 4 years. He will need another tenotomy when he starts to walk.

Merry Christmas in July!

Here's Timothy's first picture with Santa Claus! We are lucky because we are distantly related, so we get to see him frequently.

San Antonio 2019

    This year we were able to take Evelyn and Timothy to an IPR in Texas. We took two extra days with Michael's hotel points. The day we left, Timothy was a bit ornery because he had gotten his tenotomy earlier that day; that's where they snipped his Achilles Tendon and then stretched his foot and recasted it.  Our flight didn't land until after midnight, and I was worried Timothy would scream the entire time, but he was amazing: he slept the entire time!
   Most of our trip was a typical San Antonio trip, eating on the riverwalk, walking around the riverwalk, going to the rainforest cafe gift shop and the Alamo. But we had Timothy! We had to be careful to keep him out of the sun and cool. Luckily, it was a pretty breezy week, so it didn't roast us too much. In other words, we spent our whole vacation being completely idle. In fact, I slept 80% of our first day there! So here are a bunch of really lazy pictures.

 Last time we went to San Antonio, we promised Evelyn we would go to the Ripley's Believe it or not Museum, but it snowed the day we planned to go and the whole city shut down! So we made sure to go this time! She loved all the exhibits except the creepy mannequins. She had mannequinphobia.

  

 Then on our last day, we were able to go to Sea World! We got free tickets because they were doing a promotional for veterans! We didn't stay all day, but we watched the shamus and dolphins. We ate BBQ and bought souvenirs. We generally just forgot we had a bunch of medical bills and had a great time! It was so needed!

 Evelyn got the polar bear at Sea World and named him Atlantis after the only ride they were able to go on at Sea World.

 Mom bought this awesome carrier to make it easier to carry Timothy. It made life so much simpler: we didn't have to bring his diaper bag because there is a fanny-pack pocket on the front.

These Are a Few of My Favorite Things

1-We were lucky enough to catch Timothy's First Laugh on video! He was laughing at Angelo chasing his shadow! I love sweet, pure delighted baby giggles!

 2-Timothy in his Bunny Suit and Tux! I love this Debonair Gentleman!

 3-Can't get enough of his rubber face! One day he looks just like his Daddy,

 Then he looks like me,

 Then his daddy again!
 4-I love hats on babies!

5-I love the wonder that babies exhibit when they experience the world! And I love fuzzy sleepers!

 6-Sometimes Timothy looks so ponderous!

 7-I cannot mention enough how grateful I am for the miracles of modern medicine! Here is Timothy in his corrective casts! Even twenty years ago they would have just fused his clubbed foot: but now it is  straight!

8-I adore watching Evelyn with her baby brother: so protective, so sweet, so eager to comfort and serve! She loves him so much! She was born to be an older sister, and we thought she would end up an only child!

Nine weeks old!

   Time goes so quickly! Timothy just had his nine week birthday! He was cleared at 6 weeks to start being on his back. We have been doing the Serial Casting for his clubbed foot. He is on cast 2/week 2, and his foot already looks straight!
   

Timothy adores bath time! It was really sad to get his cast on: we thought he wouldn't be able to bathe for 2 months! But we found a way to keep his cast dry!

 One of my favorite places in the world is Thanksgiving point gardens. We made it out as soon as I could get around so I could soak up some spring. Timothy has started to learn not to gag over the sunlight quite as much as he used to.
   Marilyn bought me this adorable bunny suit, and I couldn't resist having him wear it on Easter Sunday. So debonair!

 This is one of Timothy's favorite positions: baby sloth! "The cutest of the seven deadly sins!"

Sunday the 5th of March we were able to give Timothy his name and blessing! It is such an amazing miracle to have that experience again after 11 years! Michael was able to conduct that meeting and he gave such a sweet testimony about miracles that people may pass off: the barren being able to bear children, babies who would be condemned to die in other time periods living and living well. It brought such a sweet spirit into the meeting, and the subject stayed on miracles for the duration of testimony meeting.

Two Weeks In!

 I wanted to review the last two weeks, because things have been changing so quickly! Timothy grows at such an astounding rate, but he is healing even faster! I don't want to forget all that we have been through.  This is Timothy's repaired back. He had a 6 cm opening in his spine, and the cyst was the size of his head. It looks so amazing, and the doctors are thrilled with how it is healing. We cannot put any pressure on his lower back at all: so he has to lie on his sides or stomach for 6 weeks. Even changing his diaper, we have to get very creative because he can't be on his back even for that long. The permanent marker on his shoulder blades were places they were planning on slicing to be able to stretch the skin and muscle to cover the opening, and then leaving to heal on their own: it would have made his hospital stay much longer, but due to all the prayers and faith of our loved ones, they didn't have to do that! We decided it would be easiest to support him if we carried him on a pillow. So he gets royal treatment all the time. Every day at the hospital they would take another tube out, and he would get easier to hold.

 Timothy looks so much like my newborn pictures, its amazing! This shot of him is almost identical to an old Polaroid photograph of me.

 In the ultrasounds, Timothy was frequently caught sucking on his toes. I wasn't quite sure how he accomplished that, until I saw it it real life! He loves being folded in half like this. Its actually a bit of an ordeal to get him to straighten out. His hip sockets aren't fully developed, but that is something they will be able to correct fairly easily in a few months.

Evelyn was finally able  to meet her little brother on Monday the 11th. We brought her up to Primary Children's and ended up spending hours with him: none of us could bear to leave him. Evelyn gazed at him and too a million pictures. She colored a snuggle cloth for him, and sang to him "Puff the Magic Dragon." She loves finally having her baby brother here!

 First time holding him! I can't believe how big she looks compared to him! He's going to think he has two mommies!

 Angelo also adores Timothy, though he has tried to flip him off my lap and steal his blankets. He's adjusting rather well, we think.

 We took this picture yesterday because we couldn't believe how much bigger Timothy already looked! It was the day after his due date! He sleeps most of the day and night. I think that not only is he doing some major healing, but he is stretching out so quickly! Its been nice to almost get a normal amount of sleep: interrupted, of course.