KAFO Baby

When picked up under their armpits, most babies will put their feet down and eventually want to stand. But not Grace. She does things her own way and immediately pulls her legs up. I appreciate her resistance to conform and be like "other babies", but unfortunately putting weight on your legs is pretty important. Especially if you want to walk someday and give your poor mom's back a break from carrying you. So Grace is receiving a little help in the form of KAFOs (Knee-Ankle-Foot Orthosis).

Grace's KAFOs

To have these made, we had to take Grace to Midwest Orthotics and the nice people made cast-like molds of her legs while she screamed at them. They didn't seem to mind much. You can choose from tons of different designs and since I was worried I wouldn't be able to tell the right from the left I had them made in two different colors. It's actually pretty obvious, so now it's a fashion statement.

Putting the KAFOs on Grace is the absolute worst part of my day. I try to sing and talk to her and be happy but she HATES it. The whole process looks like this: (Mom, you may want to skip this picture!)

Tears and pantyhose. Reminds me of a job I once had.

After they are on, I sometimes will let her take a break for a bit to calm down.

Grace's KAFOs have a hinge on each side of her knee, so she's able to bend her knees. But once she stands upright, a bar slides over the hinge to keep her legs straight.

We then stand for a bit - her physical therapist wants her to do it twice a day for 15-20 minutes at a time. She mostly will play on her laptop or the iPad, but occasionally she will just want to stand in front of me and lay her head on my shoulder. That cuddle is both heartbreaking and heartwarming at the same time.

Standing like a big girl!

We've had them for about a week and she's doing really well so far. Our goal is to make her realize she can stand on her own, which will lead to pulling herself up and walking.

I can't wait to see her running around the backyard this summer!