A year ago, I cried that Leah would have to wear braces. I cried a lot and even when we got them and tried them on her, I fought back the tears. It hurt my heart to know that she needed these braces.
But today...I love the braces!!! It still makes me sad that she needs them, but it makes me smile like I've never smiled before to see her walking everywhere!!!! The tears I cry now are of pure joy, because Leah is walking! She is really walking!!
Since 15 months she's been taking steps and we kept wondering when it would happen and boy oh boy has it happened!! I begged Leah's PT to help her get to his point and she kept telling me, that once she was walking I would be begging her to slow down!! Haha, today we had that first real experience with that. I took Leah out to lunch, with a couple of my girlfriends and their kids...Leah sat for maybe 10 minutes and then wanted out of the high-chair. After that I got in about 2 more bites of my sandwich and my lunch had officially ended. Leah was walking circles around the restaurant, which was luckily empty!! She even walked into the Men's bathroom...yikes, that was embarrassing!
Her gait is looking so much better in the braces, she is not hyper-extending nearly as much. She has a beautiful knee bend when in standing and her feet are both nicely flat. When I don't have her in the braces I can see how different her gait is and how her balance is not as good. We still only have them on for 5 hours a day maximum, and while she walks without them on...I really see the difference they make!
Who would have thought I'd be sitting here so excited about braces!?!
Monday, March 30, 2009
Who would have thought!?
Posted by Amanda at 2:07 PM
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7 comments:
That is awesome! I too can see the difference when Sammy doesn't have his brace on. I totally think that with time and practice their gait does improve. Our PT told me that it will only get better with time. Now, Sammy does have a tiny limp but when he is running YIKES! So baby steps. One day he will be running and I will say wow remember where he came from. I do love to see him running, but it is not graceful that is for sure! Especially since the casting, he is all over the place. Yet again, HE IS RUNNING! Right?
What a big girl Leah is. Anna our third would walk across the room but if she had to really get somewhere she would crawl. I didn't count her walk walking until 17 months. Even though at a year she was taking steps. Some kids just take longer to fully walk. Sammy didn't take steps until 17 months, but within a week he was walking everywhere, he just wanted to be like his big brother I think. She is doing fabulous!!! I would love to see a video of her walking in her braces sometime.
Suzanne--Hopefully this week, I'm going to get a video of her without the brace and with the brace to really see the difference! It'll be nice to look back on them in a couple months and see how she has improved!!
Isn't it amazing the difference they make?! And the best part is that you're getting her used to them now, rather than later. (Avery was doing so well lately that we haven't made her wear her AFO to bed for MONTHS...well, now we're trying to get her to wear it again and it's a nightmare!)
YEAH LEAH I knew you would be doing any day now! Baby proof everything now:)
Have fun in FLORIDA, I am jealous!
WONDERFUL!!!!
Max wears his braces for school every day, but sometimes on weekends we don't put them on, and I definitely see a difference in the way he walks. Those braces are great.
I'm so happy that they're working out for you! The AFO has certainly helped Bennett.
Me.
(other) Barbara
What do you think - could anyone have influenced your feelings back when?
I just posted on what happens without braces. Let me know what you think.
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