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Post Partum Weight Loss

Starting weight 10-27-08 : 168 lbs (Need to face the music) (Not sharing body fat %...too scary for Halloween)

Goal weight: 145 lbs

It's a serious birth defect folks!

Before Om, I had no idea what it meant to have club feet. To me, all foot and leg braces were the same. Now I realize that there are so many variations in the type of lower extremity birth defects. Some are more severe than others, and some are accompanied by other birth defects in different parts of the body. Each type of defect has a specified type of treatment which may or may not include a brace/special shoes.

Club feet is just one category of lower extremity birth defect. Within club feet there are variations in severity and also in what caused the condition. For instance, children can be born with bilateral or unilateral clubbed feet, with severe, moderate, or mild severity. There are also atypical club feet which are very difficult to treat. Om has bilateral club feet with moderate severity. The docs said it is an isolated (no other issues in Om) genetic problem. There was nothing we could do or could have done better (such as changing the diet etc). Om wasn't "cramped" inside me (he had plenty of room to kick the bejeezus out of his Mom).

Thus, I understand when people who hear about club feet for the first time say things like "Oh don't worry my cousin's friend's brother had this and he just wore special sandals and is totally fine now." How do they know it was club feet and not some other milder deformity that was easily fixed with special sandals? They don't, yet they are trying to be supportive and give us hope. So I listen. :-)

I also listened when my parents said that Om would "miracously" be healed in the womb due to prayer. They were convinced that club feet could be healed via intense prayer and that when Om was born we'd have a pleasant surprise. I knew in my heart that this would not be the case (I trust science too much) but I let them pray for my baby. They were just worried for their grandchild.

I listened when my mother in law conducted a puja (prayer) ceremony in her house in India and had a priest pray for the baby for several weeks after. Although I didn' t like the idea of the money spent, I didn't mind since she was just trying what she knew best.

What I don't listen to are when people say things like:

• "You didn't get enough vitamins. You should have eaten (insert random food here) so that your baby would have normal feet."
• "You didn't sleep in the correct position."
• "Malnutrition causes this."
• "You must have bent in an unusual position thus the baby's feet twisted inward."
• "You should have prayed more during the pregnancy."

(These comments are actually quite entertaining at times. I can't wait to see what comments we get when we take Om to India for the first time in March).

Club Foot Gene Found

This is fascinating. Neither G nor I know of anyone on either side of our families that has club feet. However, the physician told us (at the 5 month ultrasound) that our case was most likely genetic.

Gene Plays Key Role in Clubfoot
Finding could lead to tests, therapies, experts say
-- Robert Preidt

MONDAY, Oct. 27 (HealthDay News) -- The first gene linked to clubfoot has been identified by researchers at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, who analyzed the DNA of 35 extended family members of a male infant with clubfoot.

Through their analysis, the study authors concluded that a mutation in a gene called PITX1 -- which is critical for early development of lower limbs -- was responsible for the condition. The mutation was found in all 13 affected family members and in three carriers who showed no clinical symptoms.

Other genes may also play a role in clubfoot, but this finding is an initial step toward improved genetic counseling and the development of new therapies, the researchers said. The study appears in the Nov. 7 issue of the American Journal of Human Genetics.

"To our knowledge this report is the first evidence for PITX1 mutation in human disease," Dr. Christina Gurnett, an assistant professor of neurology, of pediatrics and of orthopedic surgery, said in a university news release. "Once we identified the mutation, we proved that all of the individuals in this family with lower extremity malformations also have the mutation. Having large families to work with is very helpful in genetic research."

Clubfoot, which affects about one in 1,000 newborns, is "a complex disorder meaning that more than one gene as well as environmental factors will be discovered to play a role in its [cause]," study senior author and clubfoot specialist Dr. Matthew Dobbs, an associate professor of orthopedic surgery, said in the news release.

In about 80 percent of clubfoot cases, the cause is unknown, while a familial link plays a role in about 25 percent of cases, according to background information about the study. Males are twice as likely as females to have clubfoot, which occurs more often in the right foot. About half of cases affect both feet.

Club Feet - Goodbye Casts, Hello Brace

Last Sunday was the chipmunk's (AKA Om) last day with the correcting casts. In this picture the casts are pretty dusty after 3 weeks of wear. I couldn't resist adding a few doodles to the casts.

My little surfer/snowboarder! In the above pic, the casts have been removed. He is wearing a brace (Dennis Brown Bar) that consists of corrective shoes and a metal bar to hold his feet in place. We have to keep the brace on Om 23 hours a day. The extra hour gets divided throughout the day for a bath and stretching of his feet (special stretches that the orthotics folks taught to us) These shoes are not easy to put back on once we've taken them off. They are leathery and stiff, and Om cries each time we squish his feet into them. The bar is heavy so Om needs to re-learn how to kick up his legs.

If we don't follow the prescribed treatment there is a good chance his feet will relapse into the clubbed position. We take Om back for a checkup in 3 months. I'm hoping the doctor will determine his feet are satisfactorily stable such that we can limit the brace to only nighttime. That will be a huge relief from taking off and putting on the brace during the day.

When I hold Om without his brace, I think to myself "This is what it feels like to have a normal baby." Sigh.

Karwa Chauth (a little late)

Took me a few days to do a karwa chauth post. Karwa chauth is a Hindu holiday in which ladies fast all day and then eat at night. The fasting is for the long life of their husbands. I do it to participate with my Mom and Mom in law, and also to test how long I can go without eating. :-)

Here is a picture of me and Om all dressed up:

Here is a group pic:

An Ehem Moment

From urbandictionary.com:

1. ehem
an expression used when you try to clearly explain something in a manner and bring your confidence up when actually you're feeling down.
ehem , i didn't mean to hurt you. :) ehem, it's for you.

At the Mommy & Me store the other day:

Me: Can I check these out here? (place baby clothes on counter)

Clerk: (size 0 teenage girl wearing leg warmers) Sure. So how many weeks along are you?

Me: Ehem. I already had my son 2 months ago.

Clerk: (embarressed & starts to ramble) Oh sorry...you know my sister she was pregnant and became really swollen. The swelling of the belly takes a long time to go down... (goes on and on about swelling)

Meh.