Quegg: Hello, congratulations on your pregnancy. I have been EXACTLY where you are.
Firstly, relax! You will have a happy healthy baby, who will be mobile, energetic and will astound you with his/her zest for a busy active life. Talipes is treated v successfully with v mild after effects. One of the main actors in The Bill was born with talipes.
DS's talipes was picked up at the 20 week scan, and like you, there was lots of talk about 'soft markers'. It is never explained (it seems) at scans that 'soft markers' are the alternative to 'hard markers'. Soft markers are little conditions that occasionally co-incide with other conditions, generally with no proven link, and with a v low risk as an indicator.
Anyway, v pleased to hear that your baby is basically healthy and has none of the serious trisomies. Like you, once the frightening tests were done, we felt relieved that our baby had a condition that would not affect his health.
Like you, we saw an orthopeadic consultant before the birth. That was v re-assuring, and it gave us a chance to weigh up all the possible options.
However, the important fact is that until the baby is born, the consultant will not be able to make a definite decision: bones do not calcify at this stage and are hard to see on scans, it is impossible to diagnose how far the talipes is 'positional', etc etc. But it will give you a chance to find out about that consultants approach.
Ask about Ponesetti treatment: this is a method which is largely surgery-free, and relies on boots fixed on a bar while the baby is small, to encourage the feet to grwo into a correct position.
Ask about the consultant's approach to surgery if Ponsetti is not thought to be appropriate for your baby. If Ponsetti treatment is not available at your hospital, use the next few weeks to find out the nearest hospital that does offer it. The consultant you see should be prepared to tell you this, otherwise ask your GP for advice or research through the links below.
In fact, once my baby was born, it was found that his condition was more complicated than talipes (but this is v rare), but even so, his little foot, that was pointing inwards and downwards like a ballet dancer on pointe at birth, carries him hither and thither, and he sailed through all the treatment withour a second thought.
Finally, for now, here are two good UK websites for parents of children with talipes:
\link{http://www.clubfoot.co.uk/\clubfoot.uk}
\link{http://www.steps-charity.org.uk/home.php\STEPS}
I have put a link from the Special Needs board, which will hopefully attract other MN with experience of this. Dinosaur's DS is just finishing successfull Ponesetti treatment, for starters!
Please feel free to CAT me (Conatct another Talker: through the button at the top of the page) if it would help.
And again, the most important thing, congratulations.