Standing

Last Friday Leah got her new AFO’s (ankle-foot orthotics).  This is very exciting because it’s the first step towards getting her to walk.  The AFO’s are made of plastic and mold to her feet.  They go just a little past her toes and up to about mid-calf.  There are straps across her calf and feet to hold the foot in a 90-degree angle.  Even though she does not have the muscles to hold herself upright, even with the AFO’s on, they stabilize her foot so she can be in her stander.

So this stander – we thought we’d get it from the orthotics company but as it turns out our insurance no longer reimburses for it.  We were pretty disappointed because without a stander, the AFO’s don’t really matter.  We could purchase a stander on our own – to the tune of about $1,000!!!  Instead I posted on the local SB mom’s group to see if anyone had a stander we could borrow and as it turns out, someone did!!  We were able to get it on Sunday.  At first Leah didn’t really like it.  It’s a bit awkward to strap her in, and she was a little freaked out by it at first and overwhelmed by everyone staring at her (the mom and her daughter brought it over).  However, I put her in it on Tuesday and that went much better.  She was able to stand up for about 15 minutes, and she really liked it.  This was the first time she was totally upright and had both hands free.  I’ve stood her up at the couch before, but she wasn’t very secure and wanted down after just a few minutes.  But with this, she could play with toys and be completely independent.  She even was bouncing around and almost tipped herself over… note to self, I need to keep a foot on it and watch her at all times.

This stander will help her bear weight on her legs, which is very important for bone and joint and muscle development.  It’s what is going to build the strength for her to move her legs to walk, something we’re hopeful she’ll want to do.  Our goal at this point is 5-10 minutes at a time and keep increasing that time as she’ll allow.  As I have mentioned previously, we need to keep a close watch on her feet when she’s wearing her AFO’s.  Since she can’t feel pain in her feet, we have to watch for blisters or sores and to make sure we don’t strap them in too tightly.  She won’t be able to complain if it hurts so it’s our job to keep them healthy.  The good thing is that she doesn’t need to have the AFO’s on all the time.  They don’t bother her, but they don’t really do anything for her when she’s crawling around.

Here are a few pictures of her AFO’s and of her in the stander.

The voices on the video are my mom and sister-in-law, who were skyping with us.  As you can see, she was rocking herself back and forth and why I needed to keep a foot on her stander.