Special Stories

This personal story of this little girl touched my heart. She doesn't have to go through a lifetime of not being able to walk. By having simple, easy treatment, she can be cured. She is in a country that doesn't provide the necessary treatment. We can help.



ON A HAPPIER NOTE!




I Stumbled upon this video. It's a great, candid example of what my 6 month old daughter is going through. Isn't it so adorable? It just shows hope and happiness at the same time, while going through these tough times.

For more touching stories about babies with club feet that were healed with treatment click on: 

1. http://www.clubfootclub.org/Babies-Children-Stories-c-1_3.html
   
2.  http://www.clubfeet.net/stories/
3. http://www.aussieclubfootkids.org/stories/clubfoot_stories.html
4. http://organizedwisdom.com/Clubfoot
5. http://www.angelfire.com/oh/clubfoot/myson/updates/1998.html

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ABOUT ME

I am six months of age, right now, and was born in New Rochelle, NY. I was born with Club Feet, which by the way, was no fault of my own.

My mother chose to write about me, to maybe help and inspire others out there with my fixable birth defect, that they are not alone.  Club Feet is very common, in fact, according to Mayo Clinic, it's usually an isolated problem on an otherwise normal, healthy newborn. It can be mild or it can be severe. I have the mild case where my feet wasn't turned in completely. It was turned in at a 90 degree angle. It's cases where it will be turned in at a 180 degree angle. It can also effect both feet or just one foot. My mother had just one Club Foot, which was her left foot, and, she received treatment for it by wearing a brace to.

I love to just be in my mother's arms all day loooong as much as I can.  Of course, I love to eat my cereal, and drink my milk and juice.  My big brother and sister plays with me a whole lot of the time and I enjoy their company, because they make me laugh and do silly things.  I never feel alone, because these people love me and support me.

That's why I know that I am going to be okay. My mother takes me back and fourth to the doctors and these people touch and move my feet around. I feel much better when I leave those people place and come back home to play with my brother and sister.

I also love to eat my hands, because I feel this itching on my gums.  I don't know what it is.  Think my mother told me its its because I am starting to grow some teeth out of my gums.  All I know that I have to try to put things in my mouth to chew on it. It makes my gums feel good.

Anyway, enjoy the good reads about me and my birth defect and how I overcame it with the support of my beautiful parents and siblings. I want you to know that God is watching all over all of yous and to hold on to the FAITH.

If you want to know more information about Club Feet and Treatment options, click on:

1. http://www.marchofdimes.com/pnhec/4439_1211.asp 
2. http://www.epodiatry.com/clubfoot.htm 
3. http://www.drfoot.co.uk/club%20foot.htm 
4. http://www.clubfootclub.org/ 
5. http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/001228.htm 
6. http://www.scoi.com/clubfoot.htm
7. http://www.pediatric-orthopedics.com/Treatments/Feet/feet.html 
8. http://www.seattlechildrens.org/medical-conditions/bone-joint-muscle-conditions/clubfoot/ 
9. http://orthopedics.about.com/cs/pediatricsurgery/a/clubfoot.htm 
10. http://www.orthoseek.com/articles/clubfoot.html 
11. http://www.hopkinsortho.org/clubfoot.html 
12. http://www.ponseti.info/v1/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=13&Itemid=27 
13. http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/1237077-overview 
14. http://www.childrensorthopaedics.com/clubfoottalipesequinovarus.html#1 
15. http://www.cyh.com/HealthTopics/HealthTopicDetails.aspx?p=114&np=304&id=1881 
16. http://www.livestrong.com/article/26277-clubfoot-disease/ 
17. http://www.csmc.edu/9840.html 
18. http://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/clubfoot-topic-overview 
19. http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/clubfoot.aspx 
20. http://www.peds-ortho.com/clubfoot.htm 
21. http://www.lpch.org/diseaseHealthInfo/healthLibrary/orthopaedics/clubfoot.html
    

New Earrings

I took my baby girl, on Friday, to get her ears pierced. I was supposed to have done it since when she was 3 months old, but somethings always occurred and stalled me from going to take her. I only have a few hours in the day to accomplish some errands before my husband goes to work.  I always had to take care of other duties for my other 2 children, so I would just put it off for another day. I am glad that i finally did it and she looks even prettier than she did already. Just an enhancement for her.  Seems like my adorable bundle of joy is Growing up so fast on me, (Laughter).

http://www.everystockphoto.com/photo.php?imageId=2583721

I was waiting, not too long, in the doctors office waiting area, until the nurse called me. I just wanted to get her ears pierced, not any physical check-up or anything. I expected for it to be an in and out situation, but it wasn't. When I walked into the doctor's office, he forgot the ear piercing gun to do the job. GREAT! Nice thinking doc, were my thoughts. I had to wait an extra half an hour for him to go back home to get the equipment and come back. I felt it was all worth it. I don't believe in going just anywhere that says: "EAR PIERCING" to take your children to get their ears pierced just because it's cheaper. I think about the long-term, not the short-term. It was well worth the $40.00 it cost to do the ear piercing, even though when I took my 3 year old it was $25.00. The doctor informed me the price went up, because the manufacture equipment went up. So you have to meet in the middle somewhere, right?

My baby's physician recommended me to wait until she was 3 months old, the earliest to get her ears pierced because of infections that she can acquire from getting the procedure done without her first set of immunizations, which makes a lot of sense to me. I think that my baby is going through enough, and went through enough, in her little life having Clubfeet to add on more problems that can be easily prevented. Better safe, than sorry, for sure.

My 3 year old daughter, Adonise, got her ears pierced ever since she was 3 months old. It was easier for me to get more things done at that time, plus I had more time to spare. Now that my baby has Clubfeet, I have to take her back and fourth to the Orthopedics and the Orthotist for her special shoes called the (Dobbs Bar). That takes up a lot of my time, because of the random appointments at times.

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Milestones

Screaming for Attention

I have to say that everyday my baby does something different, new and exciting.  If it's not anything new, believe me it is not far away from manifesting. That's just how babies are, they perform things new all of the time. Either to get your attention, or just to do it because they are getting older and more milestones are starting to show up. 

Yesterday, all of a sudden, she started doing this screaming performance, playfully, to gain more attention then what she is already receiving anyway.  It's obviously because of her Clubfeet that she gets more attention. Me and my husband try so hard not to spoil her, but to no avail, because she is so precious and such a blessing to our family. You only enjoy this time once. It goes away quickly, because they grow up so fast in many ways. One day she is not going to want to be held, because that's how babies get.

She doesn't scream from crying or anything, she does it for attention. Like when some performers do silly things to gain attention. My baby does it to get even more attention, even though she gets most of the attention anyway, because she is the baby in the family. For the majority of the day yesterday, she decided to scream when I put her to sit down in her bouncer while I was washing dishes and cooking dinner. I would then turn around to look at her and then she would give me this broad laugh from ear to ear, telling me "Yea, I got you" sort of a smile.

I am a stay at home mother at this time, so I am taking care of my two youngest children at home while my husband is at work for the majority of the day. He doesn't come home until like 9/10:00 pm at night, so I be so exhausted when he finally comes home to take over. I hardly get any REAL rest for myself. It's like a mother's instinct to make sure your children are safe and comfortable, so you wouldn't have to be worrying or anything. Even though my husband takes over when he comes home from work, I still feel like I have to do something, anything for my kids. I just want them to be as comfortable as comfortable can get, you know what I mean? It's only natural, but I don't take it overboard or anything like that.

During the day I try to get a lot of things done with the kids here, otherwise I won't get anything done holding my baby in my arms all day. She prefers me to hold her all day, even when she takes her naps. Every time I put her down for a nap, expect her to wake up crying very soon, because she is used to being held, even when she is asleep. I try to put her down soon as she falls asleep to sort of teach her to fall asleep on her own. Sometimes it works, and other times she just wants to be held. My husband just holds her for the majority of the time because he doesn't like to hear her crying at all. I am going to admit, I do it to, sometimes.

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Just Another day of thoughts

Growing so Fast

My precious baby is such a blessing to me that when I look at her I couldn't have been so lucky to have her, because she makes me realize that I am blessed. She is starting so sleep through the nights now that she is 5 months old. In addition she started to eat solids at 4 months old, so she had more of a full stomach than just drinking milk. It seemed that from the start, milk just wasn't enough for her. It seemed like every hour and a half, she wanted another bottle. She was wearing me and my husband out every night.

She started to sleep a little through the night when she was two and a half months old. That gave us a little rest. I stay home with the children while my husband goes to work. He is Self-Employed, so he doesn't have to be to work from 9-5, but he does have a contract with whom he works for. So, throughout the day, I am with the children home everyday. After a while it just felt like the walls were literally closing on my everyday, because it was the same routine everyday.

I love my children, don't get me wrong, I just felt like I needed something to do for myself to feel some sort of fulfillment towards something or some sort of goal to accomplish. That's one of the reasons why I decided to blog down my feelings into the world, because I am sure I am not the only one in this world feeling this way. Everyone needs some sort of fulfillment, from the everyday struggle we go through.

Not getting off the subject of my precious Miracle, I just had to let those particular feelings out. We named our precious baby girl, Shandi. We decided on that name from a listing of African names we saw on a website, which I can't remember. We also chose that name, because it is very eclectic, different, really not heard, as far as our knowledge. We feel it fits her as well as her personality perfectly. My other two children also has names really never heard of or that it's just rare.

Eating habits


One thing that I can say about my children, is that they have a healthy appetite. I try to feed them the best cooking as possible. That includes a rarity of eating out and going to fast food restaurants. I like to cook, as well, that is one of my hobbies that I enjoy. I love to see how my family feels after a nice warm home-cooked meal.

I started to feed my baby girl single-grain cereals for her age. They first have to start off eating single-grain rice, barley, and oatmeal cereals. Once they master those, then they move up to the whole-grain, then multi-grain. She is also eating 1st foods now as well, which I am feeding her the fruits of all kinds and vegetables.
Oh my God! You all should see her face of excitement when she sees her bottle or the bowl of her warm cereal. She starts to move her legs and arms all over the place, and if I am holding her and I am making her bottle or cereal, I would have to stop every once and a second,  because I would have to hold her back. 

For her age of 5 months, she is so intelligent and very alert towards people.  Is aware of her food, especially when she sees it. Has such a healthy appetite and tries to hold her bottle when she is drinking it. She knows that is her milk and bottle by the way she just grabs it with such strength and authority. When I am feeding her cereal, she just grabs the spoon while I put it towards her mouth, like she is trying to guide me in the right direction or something. Yea, towards her mouth.

When she starts to feel satisfied and full, she starts to look at me and smile, letting me know, "thanks mommy, that hit the spot", and I just feel so happy that I am privileged to feed her and see her so happy and satisfied. It is the best feeling in the world when your children are fed their warm food and the expression of happiness and satisfaction is just draped all over their faces. It's one of the best feelings in the world as a parent.

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