My baby’s first AFOs

You know how most parents keep their baby’s first pair of shoes – the little patent leather Mary Jane’s or in Aubrey’s case, the pink size 3 Nike’s? As it seems to go, things will be a little different for Emelyn. We’ll instead be tucking away her first pair of AFO’s (ankle foot orthotics) very soon. Like with Aubrey’s little Nike’s, we’ll pull them out in a few years and ooh-and-ah over how absolutely cute and tiny they are. By then she’ll probably be on her fourth of fifth pair of AFO’s and the cuteness will be long gone. They’ll probably be dirty and smell like feet and all I can think about is – bring it on! Since Emelyn got her AFO’s this past March, she’s made incredible progress bearing weight on her legs and is now consistently taking steps with assistance from one of us or a gait trainer. We even had to have the velcro refreshed and the “pringles” replaced (only other AFO mom’s and dad’s know what in the world that means!) because of the frequent use they were getting. (A big thanks for my father-in-law and Virginia Prosthetics for making that process painless for Patrick and I!) 

Emelyn waiting on PT to start.
(PT stands for play time, right?)

Emelyn doing some standing with her good
buddy, Emeline (her friend in the mirror), and
her physical therapist Ashley.

We’ve been talking about Emelyn’s feet since before she was born. It was her feet that first raised concerns in utero. While we’ve since turned our attention to other parts of Emelyn, we still often come back to her feet. Because of her low muscle tone, Emelyn’s joints are very loose and flexible. In her feet, this means the soles of her feet turn in as opposed to hitting the floor flat, even when bearing her full weight. To me, it looks painful to bear weight this way, but it doesn’t seem to bother her. Then again, not much bothers this kid. When Emelyn was younger we used heal cups in her shoes to help keep her feet in the proper position, however, as she grew and began bearing her entire body weight for longer periods of time our PT recommended AFOs . I wondered if they would be welcomed by Emelyn or cause distress, but like with most things, Emelyn doesn’t mind them at all. In fact, she enjoys being upright. Standing and taking steps are becoming routine to her. 

Emelyn's natural weight bearing position without her AFOs.

I get asked regularly, “Do you think Emelyn will walk?” It’s a question I once dwelled on, but not so much anymore. To be honest, dwelling on much of anything with Emelyn seems fairly pointless. Developmentally speaking, she does what she wants, when she wants. We’re just there, along with her wonderful therapists, to help the process along. I do believe Emelyn will eventually walk, though she may always need assistance, but I don’t think any of our happiness in life is tied to her ability to get around via traditional methods. Who knows she may just drive her Go Baby Go car around forever. We’ll need to work on the whole turning thing though – ha!

Emelyn in her Go Baby Go car back in February
of 2015, just before her 2nd birthday.