Luca's new game

Luca
and I played a game where I would ran to him and he would laugh. It was pretty cute.

Look how I've grown

Another day in the life of Luca and Layna

John and I are hanging with Layna and Luca today. Luca is watching his dad painting a wall in Jess and Kimi's new house and Layna is playing in the living room with Luca's car seat. Jess and Kimi's house is baby proof and has a path that goes down to the beach nearby so we decided to hang out here today. Luca is doing a little better with the new casts today.

Luca's happy self

We are waiting for Luca’s happy self to return after a very long casting and stretching on Friday. Luca was fitted for AFO’s which are like splints for his feet and will be what he goes to wearing after the casts. We are not sure when the transition between casting and AFO’s will happen. The dr. is very pleased with where his feet are but Luca is not happy to be in the new casts. It has taken longer than usual for him to adjust to them, at least he is sleeping through the night and taking naps so that gives John and I some breaks. It will be SO nice when he returns to his happy self! Jess took some beautiful pictures of Luca this last Wednesday and here are a few. Little did I know that our baby swapping would also result in profession pictures of Luca too! Thanks Jess for both taking care of him and taking lovely pictures!

6 months old!

Luca turned 6 months yesterday! Can't believe how time fly and how big he is getting!

Luca and Maya

Luca and Maya got to hang out today! They are so cute together and friends already! Maya is Andy and Jamie Alm's baby.

NEW BLOG SITE

We have moved this blog to a new site
www.borninseattle.wordpress.com

Ingenious Luca

Luca cannot move his arms but he has discovered his hands and is trying to figure out how use them by moving his trunk. His grasp is very weak so he has trouble holding on anything but is trying. It is exciting to see!

Visit with Aunt Cindy, Jen and Oliver

Luca studying the camera

Hanging out with Luca

New Casts

Luca got new casts again today. It went better than last week but that isn't saying much. Dr. Mosca was happy with the stretching and got at least one foot to 90 degrees. Alicia came with and drove us which was amazing for moral support and kept at least my tears at bay. These cast are suppose to stay on a week or 10 days. We will see. Thanks for praying. PS Luca also seems to have begun teething. :( hope they come in fast.

My 29th birthday

What a great day, bagels for breakfast, walk at alki in the sunshine looking at the mountains with John and Luca and out for a wonderful dinner! Made possible by Aunt Brooke who was so kind to care for Luca! Thanks for all the calls, you all made me feel very loved!

new casts

Luca got new casts on Friday. Dr. Mosca thought his feel looked much less swollen and the bruising has healed too. He didn't think he lost too much ground last week. Luca will get the casts changed on Wed. this week.

Luca chewing

Play date with Layna

Luca is having another day with Layna. They are getting to spend some quality time together each week with Jess and I baby swapping one day a week.

Trip to the Zoo

John, Luca, and I went on a trip to the Zoo courtesy of Boyer Children's Clinic. It was a sunny, Sat. so there were a lot of families there but we had fun seeing the animals. I think the monkey's were my favorite part and the lions were pretty cool too.

Cute Luca

This was this morning before the casting appointment and before Layna came over to play.

Another frustrating appointment

Well, you can tell from the title that today's casting didn't go so smoothly. I am taking care of Jess and Kimi's daughter, Layna, 4 days a month and today was the first of those days. A huge thank you to Alicia, who out of kindness, came with us to the appointment to watch Layna while Luca was getting casted.

Luca and I waited in the casting room for 60 mins. While Alicia and Layna were trying to find fun toys in the bigger waiting room. Finally, Dr. Mosca and Dr. J came in. As soon as Luca saw Dr. J he started crying. He is beginning to know the dr. who work on his feet. Dr. Mosca stretch Luca's foot for what seems like forever but really maybe 90 sec. as Luca screamed so hard he could hardly breath. Dr. Mosca then thought for a min. and stretched the other foot. same thing, stopped, thought and then said he was not going to cast him today because his feet are still so swollen. Next Friday he would cast again. Then they both left.

I found Alicia and Layna and we headed home. The whole trip took 3 hours. Thanks again Alicia!!!

Appointment with Dr. Judith Hall

The appointment with Dr. Hall, AMC expert geneticist went well and provided John and I with more info. about Luca's diagnosis. She took down as much family history as we could provide and asked about my pregnancy with Luca. She then launched into an explanation of AMC, the causes doctors know about and then the type of AMC that they don't know what causes it. From our history, amnio results, and the way his arms and legs look she thinks he most likely has the Amyoplasia type of AMC. This type is the one that has an unknown cause (it could still be a genetic reason, but just not discovered yet), is not hereditary, is sporadic (in fact 1 out of 10,000 births.
Amyoplasia means "no muscle growth" for you Latin lovers. The explaination she gave us is that the joints and muscles are formed correctly, but when they are suppose to start growing in the 8-14 weeks of gestation the mechanism doesn't work or doesn't work like it suppose to. She said we would have a 1 in 10,000 times 1 in 10,000 chance of having another child with amyoplasia. On a side note, we were asked to be part of a genetic study at the University regarding this condition. At this point, it just involves getting blood samples from John, Luca and I. Statistically only 5 babies will be born with this in the state of Washington this year.
Lastly, she said these kids generally are able to live independent lives, but not to expect him to become the captain of the football team. She also is hoping that a study is done to see if there is a link between higher intelligence and amyoplasia because she feels there is one from her many years of dealing with children who have this condition. After later on hearing a father who suggested that children who have this need to think differently about how to do things rather than just watch and imitate those older, it seems logical.
She also said that exersise was the best thing for him while I was pregnant, and may be the reason that he is doing as well as he is right now. It was like giving him Physical Therapy in utero. It was nice to hear yet again that I didn't do anything to "cause" this to happen to Luca.

Broken Computer

Hello, our computer is broken again so I am sorry for the lull in posts. I am at the library right now and John is with Luca getting new casts on. His feet looked kind of bruised so I am not sure if he will get new ones or not. Most likely and then again on Friday, Dr. Mosca will put new casts on him. (Dr. J) is casting him today. Thanks for your interest in our lives and this journey.

Alki sunset

Luca and Chris took a nap on the floor together. It was pretty cute.

Luca's new toy

Note Luca does not have cast on because he is getting new one this afternoon.

On the Hike with Chris

Physical Therapy at our house

Visit with Katie's brother

Uncle Chris came out to visit this last week. He learned all about baby 101 and mastered changing diapers, feeding, and doing Luca's exercises with him. We were also able to go on a little hike in the cascade mountains.

Luca fishing in the living room

New casts

Casting went well on Monday. There were some tears but they didn't last long. His feet are looking better ever week. It is great to see progress. Uncle Chris is here visiting and spending some qualify time with Luca.

hard casting

On Wednesday John took Luca in for his weekly casting not knowing that it would be a hard one. Dr. Mosca said it was time to start stretching his foot because the scar tissue was already beginning to form and he brought his feet to almost 90 degrees. The casting and the next 24 hours were very painful for Luca. We loaded him up on Tylenol and Ibu. but he was still in a great deal of pain. Jamie came over and helped Luca and I make it through the day as John was at work. A family from church (the Lanes) also watched him that evening. We were very thankful for all of the help and that he is feeling better today. Hopefully we will change the casts on Monday as his feet look swollen under the casts and we want to be able to contiue this hard process. Thanks for your prayers even for the the unexpected.