Metatarsus Adductus

Mr. Orson has been having a little adventure with his feet. When he was born the pediatrician that did his initial exam mentioned his feet were curved due to his position in utero. She assure us they would very likely straighten out on their own and it would be nothing to worry about. But, at 9 months his feet still looked like this...

Here are his little feet next to his cute cousin Lydia's: 

And often when he would try to stand up his foot would end up like this underneath him:

We saw a pediatric orthopedic who diagnosed him with "metatarsus adductus from hell" (his words not mine). Usually it will resolve on it's own, but in severe or "rigid" cases it requires treatment. After a few months of stretching didn't lead to any improvement, he recommended we begin serial casting to avoid a lot of foot problems/pain down the road. 

The first set of casts were full leg casts. While he HATED getting them put on, once they were done he wasn't bothered by them at all. In fact, he was crawling around within two hours! They are plaster casts so they were really heavy too. Babies are so amazingly adaptable!

He was so active in the casts that within a few days he was destroying the plaster! So they had us duct tape over them to make it though the week.

After a week in the full leg casts, his second casts were half leg which was nice. This time they wrapped them in fiberglass and he will keep them on for two weeks. These casts are much lighter and easier for both of us. He can do anything in them. In fact, he's starting to stand up without holding on to anything! I think if not for the casts he would be almost walking.

The girls were disappointed they were just white so they insisted they decorate them. If he would have let them I'm sure they would have colored every inch of them, but he wanted nothing to do with sitting still for that!

This set of casts comes off on Monday and then he will have 1 to 2 more casts. Overall, it has been so much easier than I imagined. Of course, that's just Orson's personality. He tackles anything and everything with a smile!