CAST OFF!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TODAY IS THE DAY!!!!!

Today is one of the best days of my life. really.

It's only 2:30 in the afternoon, but the situation of life calls for an early blog post.

We woke up at 6am, drove to the pediatric orthopedic in Atlanta, got there around 7:15 and waited an hour for our appointment (I say "our" but that is what it felt like!) Ethan was in a great mood this morning as if he knew what might happen. The doctor saw us a little earlier than our appointment time (which almost never happens to me), starfish got an xray, and then they took us back to a room where the saw was to remove the cast! I thought I wasn't going to stay in and watch the destarring, but for some reason I felt fine with staying and even videotaped it (I know, a little much... but someday he might think that is really cool). He cried a lot, but he also cries a lot when you change his diaper so its hard to know how scary it was for him. The doctor was great and made our day. Once the cast was pryed off of him, we saw the stank urine that has stained the cast and his skin. See pictures above. The doctor quickly through it in the trash before I could get a picture of it, so I had to ask him to take it out of the trash for more snapshots. I think he was grossed out. Take that back, he does this everyday so I'm sure I'm a normal mom. Take that back, maybe 'normal' is too generous.

So we put ONE diaper on ethan, put PANTS on him, & SHOES... and held him. My eyes filled up with tears as I held the much lighter little boy that I love so much. He had been crying, but as soon as I picked him up he was back to snuggling. It was a precious moment and I felt emotions I didn't know I could feel. But then again, that is what I would say about all of motherhood, emotions and feelings you can't put into words or experience until you have your own. So we had a moment, or two. Jared put in his REGULAR carseat and we went to McDonalds (how else to people celebrate in America?- I know, some of you are thinking "gross! that's a punishment!") Ethan wouldn't really move his leg because its really stiff. I imagine it's like when you have your neck bent a funny way and when you wake up, it's hard to move your head around. Except pretend your neck was stuck in that position not for 8 hours at night but 912 hours. That's Ethan's leg. So in one of the pictures above you can see that when we put him down, HE's STILL A STARFISH! once a starfish, always a starfish. We will be slowly helping him move his leg around and getting more comfortable with his body.

So we got home, and then came the GLORIOUS BATH! Jared has always done bathtime with Ethan, and since its been almost 40 days without a bath, this one was going to be the best. Jared put lots of toys in the tub, we stripped him down to his bare bottom, and there he went. He loved it. Jared washed his hair and scrubbed him all over. I even gave him a little haircut. I was so inspired by the cleansing process that I decided to scrub the shower! I really did, but more so because it was disgusting and I didn't have an excuse anymore. Ethan's skin is SOOOOOO dry and flaky, and he has sores where the cast must have rubbed him raw. It's not too bad, and actually better than I thought it would be.

My almost favorite moment: ethan finding his bellybutton. When we took off his shirt before bath time, Ethan looked down and pointed to his bellybutton! It was really sweet... one of the above pictures where his hands are at his stomach is from the bellybutton find. He kept pointing to it, and Jared and I both melted.

I tried to position him on his tummy and show him how to crawl, but he screamed. Too soon. It will come.

We sat him up to play with cars, and then Jared put some pillows behind him in case he fell. Well, Ethan took advantage of the pillows and immediately returned back into starfish position. Old habits die hard.

So I have some other thoughts and pictures to share about the whole experience, but I will wait until tonight to post those. Everyone else is asleep right now, so I think I should join.

Thanks for all the prayers, love & support. It has meant more to us than we can express in words.