The Journey Worth Traveling

She's had 19 casts over the course of her life, I've driven countless miles to orthopedic surgeon appointments, we've probably had 100s of Drs appointments between casts and check-ups, we've had dozens of brace fittings, I've felt like I've failed her too many times, I've spent countless nights awake with worry about her feet, she's been through two surgeries, she has a killer AFO tan, but today it all culminated in two perfect feet and today it was all worthwhile.  Today, Riley, for the first time in a long time, is brace free with two feet in perfect position with perfect flexibility. 

We are nearly 6 months post-up, we've been monthly since her surgery for check-ups, we waited over an hour today to get into our appointment, all signs were pointing to a bad day.  But we got called back to our room and all the nurses fussed over Riley as usual, commented on how tall she looked since last month and joked over who got to have her as their favorite patient.  Then Dr H came, had her do her walking exercises, checked her flexibility.  I mentioned that Riley has been complaining a bit about her AFO hurting her heel so she may need a new AFO or could it be stretched.  He said "Why don't we just stop the AFO all together?  She looks good, really good."  Riley has been hoping for this day for months now, so needless to say she was ecstatic, as was I, I told him how happy we were with her feet, everything about them from the scars to the position, to the shape.  She gave Dr H a big hug, he said "Riley, I've had a really bad day today, but this, this made up for it all."  For me, I am so relieved, a huge weight feels like it has been lifted, I nearly broke out in tears, it's been a long, uphill battle to get here but we are here and I am so thankful.  Riley and I skipped through the parking lot hand in hand singing "We are brace free!" 

There's still the possibility that she could need more surgery but today I am relishing in the fact that this is not on the table right now and that Riley can start kindergarten AFO free, that she can do all of the activities that she wants and that I don't have to remember to check her backpack every morning for her AFO.  It didn't seem like we would ever get to this point, but we got here, and I am loving it!!!

After waiting for over an hour, this is what she would give me!  Check out those awesome feet!

On the way up to Dr H she was telling me about checkers and chess, I told her we'd go get Checkers at Target after her appointment if she behaved (she had a field trip and no nap so it was questionable).  Well she did great so we got a checkers/chess combo game, she tried to teach Jacob how to play.

I think her smile says it all!

Teeny Tiny...

FEET! I was cleaning, rather gutting, Riley's closet and I came across her very first brace...

Side by side - Current on the left, first on the right!

The original size 000! - Yes, that says triple 0, as in -3! and they were pretty big on her when we first got them!

The current which she about to outgrow, a Size 3!

I also found her casts from her surgery, signed by Auntie Ralsto!

Passed!

Riley had her first post-cast check-up yesterday and I am thrilled to say she passed!!! Dr. H wanted to check in with us a week or two after going into the brace and since my in-laws are coming to visit this weekend, we figured it was better to go sooner than later in case we were practicing bad habits. Well luckily he said her feet look great, better than expected for such a short time in the brace, and that whatever we are doing to keep it up because she looks great. She was a little bruised the first few days but it seems to have gone away. I told him I was still worried about her left foot and he checked her out and said her heel was still dropped nicely and it looks like her foot has the crease because the tendon on the bottom of her foot is very tight. He showed me some stretches to do with her to help work it out and told me that there was another patient with the same thing and he's now two with absolutely perfect feet. I was so happy, I always worry about going and imagine the worst! I am so glad we are using Dr. H, he never blows off my crazy mommy worries and is always very up front about her treatment and totally sets my mind at ease! He called her feet "cautiously great," I think mostly because we are so early in the game and even showed me he gave her a smiley face and the word great on her chart! Yay for Riley!!!

I'm starting to figure out how to put the shoes on too, I pretty much hate putting them on, I don't mind them once they are on, but putting them on stresses me out. Riley always cries and I get so stressed out about making sure her foot is in there perfectly so she doesn't slip and relapse. I'm getting better, I got them in yesterday at Dr. H without making her cry and today we only had a little crying, mostly because I gave her half of her bottle before her bath and was saving the rest for after she had her bath and got her shoes back on to help settle her so I think she was mostly upset at being hungry.

We go back in a month for another check-up, I scheduled it for my last day on maternity leave. :( I can't believe my time at home with Riley is nearly at an end. I love every minute I spend with her, she gets to be more and more fun every day! In the last week she has really taken an interest in playing, when I put her down on her play mat she hits all of her toys and pounds her legs in excitement and squeals in delight, it is so cute to watch! She even cries when she wants to play and I don't put her down on her mat. I might be biased but she's the cutest!!!

Here's Riley playing without shoes and socks on, I just can't get over that my baby has normal feet! I can just stare at these pictures all day, I love those little feet! I almost feel like she's a real baby here, I know it sounds weird. :)

She also held a toy for the first time the night we let her play without her brace!

First Things First...

First things first, today is me and Marc's 2nd year anniversary! I can hardly believe that two years ago we were getting married in San Diego and here we are today in Florida with our new daughter. It's definitely been an eventful two years, full of plenty of shenanigans but I wouldn't have it any other way! Happy Anniversary Baby, I love ya!

These past two days have been jam packed of firsts for Riley. Yesterday was her first plane ride. I must say I was pleasantly surprised, then again I had zero expectations. I really and truly expected to be those people that everyone on the plane hated but she wasn't too bad. We had about two meltdowns but they were small ones and she fell asleep for all of the take-offs and landings. One of the flight attendants told us she didn't even know we had a baby with us until she saw Marc walking up and down the aisle about mid-way through the flight with Riley in her Bjorn, I guess that was a good sign. And as an added bonus, Riley slept through the night last night! Happy Anniversary to us!

Today of course was our first year celebrating our anniversary with Riley. We also took Riley out of her shoes for the first time, good thing, she's been wearing the same socks since Friday and her feet stunk! Her feet were still pretty sensitive and wrinkley but it was fun to actually see them and play with them. We only had an hour, so we let her kick around for a bit, she didn't know what to do with herself and then she had her first "real" bath since she was like 10 days old. I went easy on her, I wasn't sure how sensitive her feet would be, which they turned out to be very sensitive, and I didn't want to freak her out too much, we've learned baby steps are best with her. But she had herself a real bath and actually got to move all of her legs around for about a half hour while we played with her and bathed her. I think she liked it and I can't wait for these three months to be up so that we can have more free time with her!

Then this afternoon she met my Poppa for the first time. She greeted her great-Grandpa with a huge Riley smile and he was smitten from first sight. He spent the remainder of the day just staring at Riley while Riley spent the rest of the day sleeping. We like napping Riley, it makes for a happy Riley!

Poppa and his ladies - My mom (Nanna), me, Riley and Poppa:

Riley and her Great Grandpa (my Poppa):

Tonight Riley meets her other great-Grandpa!