Video of Madeleine walking

As promised here is a video of Madeleine walking with her 'test' helper leg. Must admit that it is not the best picture or video of me (never mind my gigantic-still-nursing-twins breasts!) but we are proud enough of our little girl that I can tolerate some embarrassment.

Note that Max ran back into the exam room only to be herded by Greg (the prosthetist) back to the hallway. So much for stealing thunder.

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Test Leg

So, yesterday wasn't what I hoped. In fact, I have found myself to be in a bit of a funk as residual emotions spring forth. I had thought that Madeleine would put that 'leg extender' on and instantly feel freedom. I had thought she would enjoy joining the ranks of her brother in 'walkerdom'. Alas, she did not. The leg was foreign. It was tight. It was overwhelming and she cried. Cathy, our physical therapist, distracted her magically with bubbles.

I realized that this is going to take a while. sigh. And our journey is not over yet. This will take time and patience. It will be frustrating and painful. Michael reminds me that Madeleine adapted to the cast wonderfully. She learned to pull herself up. She learned to stand and cruise in the giant coccoon. She will learn to walk with her new leg but it will take time.

Putting on the sock. All is fine for now.

Putting on the test leg. What a sweet size 4.5 foot!

Standing, but not happy.

Crawling with the test leg on.

We will get her permanent Helper Leg (our words for it) next Wednesday and then the challenge begins.

Tomorrow...

Tomorrow Madeleine has her appointment with Greg, the prosthetist, for her test leg. Her foot has come in (a size 4) and he is now making a leg that is see through so that he and the physical therapist can see how it is fitting her. When they get it just right he will make her permanent leg- we should get it next week.

I'm so unbelievably excited about this next part of our journey. I cannot wait to see my baby walk! We are just one step closer to getting our lives back to normal.

To get ready for her new helper leg I had to buy her new shoes. They had to be "good", have a wide sole, be lace up and have some stability. Here is what I bought-




I wanted her to have cute girly shoes but also some that she could wear with almost everything. You cannot really tell but the leather is brown and the flowers are of course pink. I'm swelling with pride and buying my little girl her first pair of shoes.

At the Wading Pool

Now that the cast is off Madeleine has a free ticket to go swimming. Michael and I have been looking forward to this all summer long. There is a wading pool not far from our house at Greenlake. The kids LOVE it! They "swim" like naturals!


Maxy wonders how deep the water really is!

The Prosthesis Fitting

Madeleine had her first visit to see her prosthetist, Greg. She did very well and was very patient. He looked at her leg, bending it a bit and moving it around. He measured it with angle rulers, little tape measures and a big tong-looking thing. For the plaster cast he fit a soft sock over her entire leg and wrote on it with a special pencil. He then put the plaster of her leg in sheets making a replica. He will fill that cast in with liquid plaster and have an exact mold of her special leg.


In this first picture he is measuring her foot (11 cm) to know what size her new foot will be. He is ordering it now and it should be here next week. A Kingsly Pediatic Foot (see below).
Greg will make Madeleine's leg. Even though she has most of her calf her prosthesis will go up to the top of her knee. Her leg will fit into and give her control in movement.

Madeleine's first helper leg will be shorter than this one in the picture and chubbier. She will have the option when she is older to have a special titanium leg with pictures on it (like the one on the left) or a "cosmetic" leg.

Here Madeleine is helping Greg hold the blocks to measure her leg length discrepancy.

The haircut

Madeleine got her first haircut on Wednesday. She was such a big girl about it and remained happy for most of the duration. Here is her before picture.
During... Mom bribed her with an apple juice box- a special treat.
After. Front View.
After. Back View.
Side View.

Holland Revisted

I am resurrecting an old post.

Welcome To Holland

by Emily Perl Kingsley

I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this......

When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip- to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.

After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland."

"Holland?!?" you say.

"What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."

But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay. The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.

So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around.... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills....and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.

But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy... and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go.

That's what I had planned."And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away... because the loss of that dream is a very very significant loss.

But ... if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you many never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things ... about Holland.

(C) 1987 by Emily Perl Kingsley. All rights reserved