Friday Caden got his last set of casts off and was ready for his boot braces. He got to kick around for about an hour before we were sent over to rehab to have him fitted for his snowboard: 
It was incredibly hard to get on the first time, and that night at home was not a good one. He wasn't used to not moving his legs independent of each other and the bar is significantly heavier than what the casts were. The ortho and rehab nurses told us to remove the braces every few hours for a few minutes to check for blisters and play with his feet to get them used to being touched - after 3 weeks in casts, they were hypersensitive. So we did. I bathed him at 9:30 that night, he fell asleep at about 10. Mind you, this was after he'd been crying and was pretty much inconsolable all day. He woke up at 2am to eat, and I changed his bum and took the braces off for about 5 minutes. His feet and ankles were a little red, nothing too serious. Put the braces back on, laid him back down. He slept again till about 7:30, ate, got a clean bum....
...and after only about 8.5 hours, this was what I found Saturday morning:
This blister (above) is what was on his right foot and where my pinkie finger is is a little black pressure sore. Below is what I found on his left foot. 2 blisters on the inside of his foot and that massive pressure sore all around the back of his ankle. 
Put a call into the orthopedic surgeon on call and was told the braces stay off until we saw the orthopedic doctor treating his clubfeet on Monday. The blisters only got bigger and the pressure sore never diminished. He was squirmy and cranky all day Saturday (who could blame him?!) but by Sunday afternoon the screaming had turned into that high-pitched "I'm in pain!" chin-shaking, breath-holding wail. We ended up in the ER at Primary Children's getting the blisters lanced and the sores treated and making sure the little infections around the wounds were only localized and not spreading. We got home at about 10, and he cried/screamed until about 4 Monday morning. Saw his ortho on Monday afternoon. Braces are off indefinitely obviously until he fully heals. At that point she said we'll have to go to a plan B in his treatment. He'll probably need a couple of re-castings done to correct whatever margin of curvature his feet re-take after so much time without any support, but after that they'll have to find some other method of treatment since it's appearing he can't tolerate the boots. This doesn't make us happy campers, as it appears (and the ortho that saw us in the ER said so) that the reason he developed such serious sores so fast was that they probably mis-fit the braces in the first place. Grrrr. We were sent home with specialized dressings we change twice a day until we see her again on Friday to check the healing and discuss optoins for the rest of the treatment.
The sores looked better this morning and he seems to be going back to his normal mellow happy self. He's only needed Tylenol twice since early Monday morning as opposed to during the weekend, needing it every 4-5 hours, and he's sleeping a lot harder and falling asleep faster. He's actually doing better than his mama...I haven't cried this hard or prayed so honestly for someone else's relief in my life. My poor Nugget :(
Gosh, has it really been 30 days already?? I can't believe that. It seems like just a little while ago Branden and I were all "Gosh I can't believe we only have a couple months left." Went so fast! I can't imagine the last month without our little Burrito though, smooshed feet and all.
What also went fast was Caden's healing with his little feet. Great news there! This 3rd set of casts he has now are likely his last. His feet got that straight that fast. Next week they'll assess him but more than likely he'll graduate from the casting to his little snowboard (boot braces with bar). And he won't need either Achilles snipped! The orthopedic could get his left foot to flex just as much as his right this time, and they're both doing what they should be. He also had his ultrasound on Friday to check his hips (breech babies are high risk for and often born with hip dysplasia), and it appears that they're just fine.
Needless to say, Friday was a great day (we won't talk about how Friday night/Saturday went, hehe, that first day after new casts is miserable for both of us). Today the casts are fully dry and he's used to the new positioning of his feet. He's a happy boy. Happy 30-day Birthday little Nugget.
Grandma and Aunt Sessie got bored last Sunday...
...and today we get this set taken off and replaced with the 3rd set. Luckily we get to keep the casts, so he'll have some art to hang onto.
So, I decided I need to go get the mail yesterday. But I had a conundrum. I couldn't yet carry bebe in his car seat, but would need my hands to open the mailbox so I couldn't carry him up in my arms. Then it hit me - we got a sling, I could put him in that! So I did. I bundled him up in his snowsuit...and then realized that it still doesn't fit him. As you can see below, it drowns him, but he had enough of his arms IN the arms that when he moved, the whole suit arm moved too. Hilarious. He loved the sling. Wasn't sure what to make of the snowsuit though. I kept getting a raised eyebrow and "Uh, Mom? What gives?" looks on the walk.
Had the first casts removed today and the second set put on. The picture's kind of grainy because it was taken with my cell phone, but this is Caden's right foot after the casts came off this afternoon. Looking at it now won't mean much unless you know that before the casts, this foot was the worse of the two; it bent inwards almost 45 degrees and the toes were bent back up towards the top of his foot. Now after just the first casting, it's nearly straight. His left foot is even better. The doctor thinks he'll only need this second casting on the left to get it totally straightened out, but his right foot'll need the full set of 4 castings. More news on the Achilles too - his right foot won't need it cut but his left one will. So we're half lucky, hehe. But after the casts come the booties and physical therapy (yay we get to start work on his little fingers then too!) and then by the time he's ready to crawl, he'll be good to go. Lot of work on a tiny body, but I'm so grateful this is something they can fix early and with relative ease on him!
Our poor dude had the first of his castings done this afternoon (picture enlarges when clicked on). He'll need probably 4, maybe 5 all together; this one and 3 more. By the last one they'll know if they need the 5th or not. After the castings are done he'll be in little boots that are attached together by a bar for 23 hours a day until he's 3 months old, and then after that he'll only wear those braces at night until he's about 2 or 3 years. We might be lucky. 95% of babies with clubfeet have to have their Achilles cut to allow their heel bone to descend out of their ankle joint. The orthopedic can already feel his heel bone (instead of that area in the back of his feet being just squishy), so he could be one of the very few kids that doesn't need that procedure done. The doc'll know more by the end of his castings. We can hope!
