The Down Low On Liam

(*** All the blue text are links you can click on***)
As you all know I started a page for Liam's updates and prayer requests.  Liams Leaps And Bounds was nice enough to send people over our way.  Liams Footprints Of Love has a lot of new faces thanks to Liam's Leaps And Bounds.  This post is for all of the new wonderful people in Liam's life.  I am going to basically give you the down low on Liam's life so far.  Liam was born December 29, 2011 via c-section weighing in at 8 lbs. and 12 oz.  Liam was never able to get a height measurement due to his legs not straightening. As they went to get a measurement my husband stopped them knowing something was wrong his his legs.  Liam was born with 2 broken femurs, both hips are completely dislocated (hip dysplasia), bilateral (both sides) clubbed feet and Arthrogryposis Multiplex Congenita (AMC for short).  When I was 37 weeks pregnant Liam was still breeched in the transvere laying position so my doctor gave me 12 hrs to decide if I wanted to have a ECV done or opt for a c-section.  I didn't like the risks the ECV had on the baby and opted for a c-section.  This was a blessing in disguise because of Liam's condition the ECV would of most likely sent Liam into shock and put my into labor.  I'm not quite sure Liam would of been able to be delivered vaginally because of his hips being dislocated and his knees not straightening.  So I would like to think that Liam being breeched was a blessing from God because as bad as his delivery was it could of been a lot worse. 

After Liam was born he had to be rushed to the nursery because his blood sugar was low.  I had Gestational Diabetes which caused Liam's blood sugar to be so low.  They tried to feed Liam but he wouldn't breathe and eat at the same time so they put a feeding tube in him to try and bring up his blood sugar.  After his first feeding he was fine.  Because his legs were so messed up they did a whole body x-ray on him to see what was going on and come to find out both his femurs were broken.  As you can tell from the picture to the right his left femur was broken in the middle and his right femur was broken right at the hip joint.  You would figure that with having 2 broken femurs that you would be put in casts right?  No, Liam was put in a pelvic harness (Picture to the right).  This was devastating to Andrew and I because his legs still moved some.  Every time we had to pick Liam up he would cry.  Obviously due to his broken femurs.  This was so hard on all three of us.   

Getting Liam home from the hospital was a challenge.  Liam couldn't go in his car seat because of his femurs so we did research and came across this thing called a car seat bed.  It's basically a car seat but it allows the baby to lay flat on their back.  We couldn't find one at a reasonable price so we continued to do research and ask our friends and family to pull their ideas together.  The day came where most babies would have been discharged and it wasn't looking too good.  Then we got this wonderful phone call from out friend Jim.  He is a volunteer EMT and had a wonderful idea.  The ambulance had a pediatric back board that straps kids to the board to keep them from moving around when they are injured.  Jim had the brilliant idea that we could try and strap Liam to the board to get Liam home.  The hospital was ok with this because our Friend was an EMT and was going to ride home with us.  So needless to say Liam finally got to go home. 

The carseat bed

Liam's first time in a normal carseat

Liam's Aunt Beth also did some research and found a company called Child Care Solutions . They had a car seat bed that they allowed us to barrow it until Liam no longer needed it.  This was a huge blessing to Andrew and I. 




Liam spent the first 6 weeks of his life mostly on a pillow where he was most comfortable.  The only way Liam could be held was in the upright position like the image below.  Changing his diaper was a 2 person job.  When Liam was laying on his changing pad and would so Liam's head was facing Andrews stomach.  I was in front of Liam where his feet were facing my stomach.  Andrew had to place his hands under his hips and butt to support his legs and gently lift him while I quickly wiped him down and put a new diaper on.  Diaper changes were hard on all of us because of the pain it put on Liam. Plus the velcro on the diaper always got caught on the harness which pushed his legs around.  Being winter time Liam was unable to wear pants because of the harness so we bundle up Liam with lots of blankets to keep him warm lol.

After the femurs were healed (took about 6 weeks) Liam got a break from the harness for 2 weeks.  After his 2 week break Liam started serial casting to help correct his clubbed feet. He would have his casts changed every Monday and have his ankles stretched for a couple months then every other week for another couple months.  Liam did get a break from casting over the summer which was nice. 
You can watch the 2 videos to see how his casting was done.  Warning it's sad
Right foot casting  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_vhJpFW_qs
Left foot casting(the more difficult side)  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sg71vvgI8DA

Top are his feet before the casting started
Bottom is his feet after his surgery

 September 14th Liam had surgery to continue fixing his clubbed feet.  Dr.  Albanese(his orthopedist) who performed the surgery did a complete release(cut) on both achilles tendon and moved some bones around. You can head over HERE for a more detailed post about what they had to do to his feet and ankles.  His surgery went better than expected.  Liam didn't need pins like we thought and what Dr. Albanese thought was going to take 5 1/2 hours only took 2.  You can head over HERE to find out more about they surgery and recovery.

Liam was in those orange casts for 6 weeks then had a couple weeks away from casts.  Since we had to short weeks this month Early Intervention took a little longer to get moving so Dr. Albanse put Liam back in casts to prevent his ankles from turning in. So Liam's been in casts since November 19th.  Liam will be in this set of casts until December 17th.  Casting has always been tough for Liam because of the stretching of his ankles.  Thinking about your joints being stretch in a direction they don't want to go and having them being really stretched to reposition them.  Not a pretty sight. 

So whats next for Liam?  Well obviously Liam needs physical therapy  to help strengthen things and trying to teach him to get around.  Liam obviously cant walk and Liam can't crawl at the moment.  Dr. Albanese even said he was concerned about him being able to crawl due to his dislocated hips.  Liam has shown no signs of crawling.  When Liam is about a year and a half to two years old he will have surgery to place the hips back in their sockets.  Sometimes this is successful with one surgery but it is possible that it might take more than one surgery.  If the hips surgery(s?) goes well and he heels properly we talk about permanently straightening his knees so he can walk some.  They way his knees will be straightened is through the Ilizarov Apparatus Method . It's this metal cage that goes on the outside of his leg, from his ankle all the way to the top of his thigh.  It is drilled in the bone from the outside in 4 sections.  Four screws at the top of his thigh, 4 above the knee, 4 below the knee and 4 at the ankle.  Andrew and I are in charge of turning the knob daily to slowly straighten his knees over 6 months to a year.  

So needless to say Liam has had a tough life and his journey isn't over.  But with friends, family and God we are surviving.  God has truly blessed us this year.  Liam has blessed so many lives and has changed hearts.  My favorite story on how Liam has affect people is HERE.  I hope you enjoy that as much as we have.

So this is most of the down low on Liam so far(there has been a lot of struggle this year, too many to write down).    There will be MANY more stories to share.  I just figured I'd catch Liam's new followers up on his Life.  Thank you for your support our family really appreciates it.