5 week update

We finally made a whole week without an exploding diaper getting onto the cast. We changed the tape anyway since the area around the neck was coming off and rubbing which wasn't so great. That area hadn't been changed in a very long time since we did our best to remove as little tape as possible during the blowouts. We had some close calls on our long Thanksgiving drive but the pantyliner saved us. I recommend a combination of pantyliners and cloth diapers. The disposables were very long in the back so it was hard to get a pantyliner up high enough. We are using grovia cloth diapers which are hybrids so if you are squeamish about cloth this is a good compromise because you get the benefit of the covers with elastic in the back and less explosions with the convenience of throwing out liners. I personally don't mind washing the cloth inserts but it is easier when you are on the road to use the disposable inserts.

There are two weeks left until cast removal. I am nervous and excited at the same time. I want to see how much correction this cast gave us. I am a bit worried that they will take it off and her back will pop right back into the same curved shape with the rib hump.

I am not sure if other parents are out there reading this but E's abs are getting ridiculous. At first I was worried but then I realized the indent in her belly is her developing a six pack. I didn't expect this but I guess it is logical since she is doing crunches all day.

Thursday Thankfuls

Today I am thankful for Dr. Min Mehta and her work to cure progressive infantile scoliosis. I am also thankful for the infantile scoliosis outreach program and the founder Heather. She has given me advice and has talked me off the ledge. She is a mom who has fought in the trenches and she is determined to help others.

Push ups

She did it! She was on her tummy and managed to push up to sitting in the cast! She did look quite angry with me for not having helped her but she did it and here's to hoping that she will regain all the milestones she had before the cast.

Halfway there!

We are officially over the hump. There is less time left ahead of us in this cast than behind. That is great since we've had 5 diaper explosions and 2 minor incidents. I realized we have two problems. Pooing in the carseat and then there is the issue with leaning over. She can't bend the top half of her body so to get something off the floor she only bends from the hip. This causes a plumbers crack situation. Things seem to be better in the cloth diapers but the plumbers crack situation may lead to ruin. I've taken a pantyliner and placed it inside of the cast to avoid this issue. I am sure we will get the hang of this just in time for her to no longer need casts.

In other news, my order from http://www.tapebrothers.com/ has arrived! Please see below. I had fun picking out the duct tape patterns which will hopefully last us until the end of casting. We've already gone through a whole roll of the pink paisley and some of the thinner decorative rolls. To highlight the need for duct taping the cast I've included a picture of the cupcake bandit. She was aided by her sister the ring leader of the cupcake caper. While I was dealing with big Sis's stolen cupcake E was in the the kitchen and very motivated. I didn't realize the cupcakes were on the floor but E did and made her way over to the container and dove in. Without duct tape around the opening E would have gotten chocolate all over the top of the cast and that would have been a disaster for us!

Going back to cloth

The third in cast week and now we've had two exploding diaper accidents. Both were car related yet again. I am over disposable diapers. We had this problem with big sis and we switched to cloth and the problem was gone. The only issue was that our current stash has some problems with wicking which is just annoying when you have to change baby pants but urine wicked onto a cast could be catastrophic. I sent big sis's old diapers out to be refurbished and I just got them back last night. We can finally cloth diaper again and I really, really hope this will be the end of our troubles. UG. Time to go take all the tape off again and get my soap and wash her shirt out again.

In other news... E is still working on scooting on her butt but she's still not crawling in the cast. We're not sure if she will crawl at all in the cast. She also hasn't been able to pull up. Overall her disposition has been great. If I were in that cast I would be very much less than happy or nice.

E had her delayed 9 month appointment this week. We've been at the pediatrician quite a bit lately since big sis has a toe that looks like it might fall off (due to her insistance to wear formal shoes all of the time) and E had that high fever in smack in the middle of the hurricane. Anyway... she is 1.75 inches taller than we measured at Cincy on cast morning. I wonder how much of that is from stretching and whether she's had a growth spurt in the two weeks since the cast.

Here are some pictures from the first cast. First we have E's last bath at home. She looks so happy splashing in the water. Then she is all ready in her little hospital gown and finally is a picture taken when I was brought back to recovery. My poor baby was so distraught.

another disaster!

We need our cloth diapers to come back already because these disposables are terrible. This time the blowout occurred in the car at a seriously inopportune time. We had just finished up at the bosto.n science museum. E had a brand new diaper we get out of the parking garage and onto the road and it hits. We had to find a semi-legal place to pull over and change her while people walking along the sidewalk stared at us. Daddy also made a rookie mistake which caused the blowout to be much worse than it need to be. My technique for diaper change when I know there is a poo in it is to put E on her side so as not to squish her bottom or the back of the diaper at all. Then I put my hand in the cast and pull the diaper down from there making sure E doesn't wiggle to touch exposed and unclean areas to the cast. Then wipe, wipe, and more wipes.

At home it took a full hour to take the tape off, clean the shirt off, blow it dry and retape. A small pointer is that I find using some diluted dawn dish detergent seems to work best for cleaning the poo off the under shirt. I had this impression that once you taped up the cast that was the way it remained. I thought I had to commit to one kind of duct tape pattern. That is pretty funny since I've taped E's cast 4 times now in just under 2 weeks (2 times in the first two days because I had taped her cast before I realized that it was trimmed wrong and then I needed to retape it). we survived but it wasn't fun.

Dressing while in Mehta cast

I didn't have much of an idea what to expect before the cast. It made packing difficult. What I suggest to any parents out there still waiting for casting is to size up on the tops and not even bother bring the current sized tops even if they seem a bit big. The cast will be larger than you expect even with researching and looking at videos or pictures. We know E's cast weighs 2 lbs and 3 oz. Her weight a few days before the cast was 18 lbs 1 oz and she weighed in at the pedi this week at 20 lbs 4 oz. I did not purchase any fleece tops because the cast itself is quite warm and I did not want to overheat E so we stuck to cotton shirts. For her winter coat I actually needed to go up 2 sizes. So in pre-cast size she took 12 month clothes but post casting she wears 18 month with a 24 month jacket. We have to roll sleeves up quite a bit or her little hands would be lost.

Since people seem to be finding this post through searches I wanted to add an update. If you have a strapless cast I suggest using a onesie underneath. You can get the tank top style to cut down on how warm it is but when there are no straps the shirt gets all stuck up inside of the cast. Having the undershirt helps keep it out. Also if food or liquid gets splashed you have another layer of protection. I didn't have luck with the cast that had straps because the straps were so high up and it was hard to wear onesies. Others may find a different arrangement is better.

Also remember to bring smaller clothes to the hospital for cast removal or your baby will look like a deflated balloon :)