We were so excited about the arrival of our first baby! The joy of seeing your little baby on the screen for the first time and seeing those little features grow. Our 20-week scan was going really well, everything looked normal and then the sonographer went very quiet! She said she had seen an abnormality and that we needed to see the fetal medicine team. We were ushered into a tiny little room and waited, for what feel like a lifetime, for the consultants.

We were told that our baby had what they thought was talipes (clubfoot) in its right foot and that they couldn’t be sure there weren’t any other problems, sometimes this is linked to spina bifida or Down syndrome. Our world fell apart.

Weeks filled with sleepless nights and worry went by; we went to numerous scans at University College London to rule out any other conditions (although we declined an amniocentesis so couldn’t rule out DS). It was confirmed our baby would be born with right-sided talipes. We were taken through the process that would happen once the baby was born and what we should expect to be happening. It was very overwhelming. We spent the rest of the pregnancy researching the Ponseti method, clothing that our baby would be able to wear and thinking about all the things that we might have done wrong that had caused this!

George was born on 30th January 2019 with a very wonky foot! He started his treatment at 13 days old, at the Royal Free Hospital. George had 5 casts changed weekly- each week his tiny foot turned out slightly more. The first cast was torture, George screamed so loud it broke our hearts.  That night we rocked him to sleep, both crying! He eventually got used to the heavy casts weighing down his legs and with each new cast it got a little easier! 

After the 6th cast George had to have a small operation on his heel to have his tendon cut, leaving him in that hospital was the scariest part of the journey. He coped with it so well, he even fell asleep with the nurses and when we were called back in he was all tucked up in his pram ready to go home.

After the casting stage George had to wear boots connected by a rigid bar for 23 hours a day. By far the hardest part of the process, learning how to feed, cuddle and play with your baby totally differently as their feet were stuck together! George’s skin was so tender after the casting that he suffered from horrible blisters in the boots and had to go back into casts whilst they heeled. The first week or so in his boots and bar we’re dreadful, he hated the limitations they brought and he just cried and cried! Eventually George learnt how to move with them on, learning to roll over and then even crawl with them on!

Finally after 3 months of 23 hour a day wear it was time for George to graduate to part time wear. George now only has to wear his boots at night time, but this will be until he his 5 years old.

I resented anyone that would say ‘well it could have been worse’ and ‘at least it can be fixed’. For us, going through this, was the worst thing at the time! Parents should be able to enjoy their new babies instead we could only bath George once a week at the hospital and pick out clothes we knew were ‘foot friendly’. Who knew not being able to dress your newborn in a lovely white babygrow would be so upsetting! The looks you get from strangers are hard to deal with too- ‘what did you do to their feet!?’ was a common question! 

We were, and still are, devastated that our baby has to go through this. But we are indebted to the staff that carry out the Ponseti treatment at the Royal Free Hospital (Nikki Shack, Lindsey and the team are amazing!!) and the wonderful people at Steps that provide invaluable advice and support to families like ours that have babies born with lower limb conditions. 

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