I've learned a lot in the last twelve weeks, things I never thought I would have to learn. Like how to dry a spica cast with a hair dryer is one major one. I mean, when I was pregnant and dreaming about this amazing little baby and all the things we would do together, one was never leaning over her with a hair dryer and drying a body cast...so is life and parenthood for that matter. You never really can know what will be thrown at you next.So here are some of my nuggets of advice for what it is worth, there is so much more, but this is what comes to mind first. These are the things I learned about a spica cast.
The first and most important is it did not change my Mabel. She was still her wonderful self and you know, maybe even better. She can't do what a lot of one-year-olds do, sure, but she can do a lot more. Her physical development of walking and standing has taken a backseat to great communication skills, language development, her own modified mobility and an amazing determination and dexterity with her hands. I'm so proud of what she's made of these last three months, she is truly a strong and happy person.
All spica casts are different. For any parent who looks online for spica cast answers, they come across so much info on diapering and care. The information is great and although there are slight variations, the basics are pretty much the same. The one thing to keep in mind that all spica casts are slightly different shapes, the opening, the baby, the trouble zones. When diapering find what works for you but be prepared to change it if the baby decides to become more mobile or starts to sleep at odd angles like Mabel. What worked with our cast for 10 weeks started to fail us at the end. It can be frustrating, but like anything with kids you have to stay on your toes and roll with it and sometime you need a hair dryer set to the cool setting!
Life can still feel normal. OK, so your baby is in a body cast and that is not fun at all, there is no getting around that, but life does take on its own type of normal and to me that is what kept me going. We came up with solutions that worked for us. Bath time that made us feel fulfilled. We made the effort of finding clothing that covered the cast up. Reinvented our highchair. The little things is what you need to get creative with, but when your routine gets back to normal you feel more normal. I could change her diaper in a minute flat in that cast towards the end!
Let yourself grieve the loss of the life you thought you were going to have with your baby. Don't wallow in things you can't control, but do let yourself have time to deal with this loss. You never saw yourself having to watch your baby endure this or thought your little one would be in a body cast for Christmas, their first birthday, the summer, what ever is making you sad. Let yourself feel it and then you can accept it. You will be surprised at how the time will come and you'll realize that the cast is part of your baby's story and it is OK. We all have a different story.
The thing that kept me going was as soon as that spica went on, for me the count down was on for when it would be off. Every day we made the best of it, that was one day down and we were getting closer to our goal. The time did not fly by, but in hindsight it wasn't horrible. There were hard parts, but what part of having a baby doesn't have that right?
Just remember it is all about perspective...
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