Right footed unilateral calipes - 20 week scan

[onewishplease]

Hi, I have just had unilateral right footed talipes diagnosed at the 20 week scan. Feeling very overwhelmed and upset. Anyone out there in the process of or past the Ponseti treatment? I was wondering how it played out for your children and was wondering if they have been effected by smaller calf and shoe size? We had opted not to find out the sex, but we are now wondering if we would prefer to know? I have filled my head with horror stories and worse case scenario, and was upset that if it is a girl, she will struggle more with the difference in calf and shoe size as she grows up?

I was already anxious about the pregnancy. I am 45. The baby was conceived with a donor egg, after many years of failed IVF and miscarriages. Just when I thought it was all coming together, we get this news and I feel gutted. Only had 3 hours sleep last night.....
Also - how did you manage the rest of the pregnancy? 20 weeks to go and I feel such a horrible deep anxiety about it all...deeply scared it is a sign of something else (that they have missed, they have said they think its isolated).
Any advice from people either in the same position as me now, slightly further on than me, or many years past it, would be much appreciated.

Oh you poor thing. I remember that feeling well, but for us it was 19 years ago, and left footed. And at the time, the ponseti treatment was new-ish, and we were all worried we were going to have to fight for it.
The short summary is - everyone we saw was great, and we were recommended straight through for the Ponseti treatment. We did everything they said, and it worked beautifully. His foot position was corrected very quickly and the rest of the treatment was all about ensuring it stayed there. The boots and bar were on at night until he was about 4 or 5 I think, and honestly he was wonderful at wearing them. He just got on with it. Yes it was annoying at the time, and it must seem like years and years till you get to that stage right now, but he went off to university this September and it’s been this blip in the distant past for years now!

Practicalities - his left foot is about half a size smaller than his right. It’s a little annoying but it’s so easy to just add an insole or one of those heel cushion things if needed and, actually, he never needed to. His left leg, if you look carefully, has a slightly narrower calf muscle. But you have to look for it. He wasn’t delayed in any way with crawling, walking, and he’s been a keen hill walker and cricketer since he was about 7. Very active and all over the place. It’s made no difference whatsoever to sports or anything.

I don’t think it would be an issue for a boy or for a girl. It just wasn’t at all noticeable, and he spent most of his life in shorts as he prefers them.

What we did at your stage was find out the sex. We hadn’t been going to, but for two reasons we changed our mind - firstly, it’s more common in boys so I thought i was likely to start assuming boy, and I didn’t want to do that if it was wrong iyswim. And secondly because we’d just had this bad news, and I wanted to find out something exciting. So it switched from “poorly foot baby” to “our little boy”. It really helped actually. And we had lots more scans after that point so it might have started showing or getting obvious anyway.

I know it’s hard to say don’t worry when it’s all ahead of you and you don’t want anything to spoil the loveliness, but honestly it all turned out absolutely brilliantly for our boy.

I’ll keep an eye on this thread and happy to chat more if you like. Our experiences were all aaages ago so I’m not up to speed with exactly which hospitals, consultants, support sites are best now, though I do remember the Steps charity was great. But it’s so fixable now. There’s a bunch of hassle but it’s got a brilliant prognosis and it’s over so soon really. Best of luck and you’ll be fine xxxxxxx

OP, firstly it could be ‘positional’ and rectified by massage and physio.

I know plenty of people who had Dc who had Ponsetti treatment: incredibly successful and no long term issues.

I have a Dc who was dx’d with unilateral talipes at the 20 week scan and it tuned out to be a lot more complicated.

But it’s still been OK.

Look for the STEPS website and Facebook group.

I was glad that I knew in advance so the birth was all about meeting and celebrating my baby rather than finding out something was ‘wrong’

Congratulations on your pregnancy.

Awwww, OP, sorry you’re having a hard time. First things first, it sounds like everything else on the scan was fine, so that’s very good.
I wasn’t in the exact position as you but it got flagged up on DC2’s newborn health check the day after she was born. It was quite a shock. To me she was perfect no matter what. But I kept wondering if she’d be able to take part in sports days etc.
We had to wait 6 weeks for a child physio appointment, during which time the issue was hanging over me, though I did think her foot was looking slightly better. By the time we had the physio appointment they took one look and said “that’s a totally normal foot”. It turned out it was just positional from being squashed in the womb.
A while later I noticed that one of DC1’s nursery friends had a leg brace for naps. We’d played with them before and I’d never noticed anything. I assumed that he had talipes. When it came to nursery sports day I think I was more emotional watching that little boy running a race with all the other children than I was watching my own child.
I hope that in a few years time you’re cheering from the sidelines too.

Please try not to panic,OP!

Firstly, as PP has said, this could be positional and easily rectifiable after birth by simple stretching (which can be done easily and painlessly by you every time you cuddle your new baby, it's not difficult for the child or the person doing the stretching).

If your little one needs more - well, I was born with some sort of talipes and underwent what was probably something like the Ponseti method for the first 6 months of my life. (Obvs I don't remember this!)

I've always had one foot which is shorter and wider than the other but for most of my life I've been able to ignore that and just wear the shoes I want. The calf on that leg is slimmer than the other but no-one has ever, ever commented! And it's not tight - maybe because I used to do yoga and still stretch quite often, but I've got better range of movement and balance than most people I know.

My short fat foot (plus the other of course!) has taken me over some of the most spectacular scenery in the world as hillwalking has been a passion; it's taken me dancing, ice skating, running. I'm actually not all that sporty but that's from inclination rather than my foot (although I was the junior school long jump champion! 😄). Basically it has never stopped me doing anything -until recently, when I've developed a bunion - but that's an age thing as I reached well into my 60s before that started giving me trouble.

So as I said, please don't let this worry you!

@Mauvish1 @OffTheMap @Pomegranatemum @TallagallaPenguin Thanks ever so much to you all for your wise personal and kind words, I really appreciated reading your messages. I will report back and let you know how the next appointment goes. For the same reason as you Tallagall we have decided to find out the sex. This was not the plan until the talipes was discovered at the 20+2 scan yesterday, but we are going back for a comprehensive Fetal Medicine scan on Thursday so we will ask then. I think I want to take back some control, and feel like I no longer want a surprise. Thinking about treatment for 5 years seems a lot today, and I already feel so protective of them and this journey we will embark on. It is frustrating the severity can't be diagnosed in the scan, and you have to wait until birth. Iv'e got loads of questions for the consultant, and really want confirmation that they are sure it is isolated.

My ds is nearly 18...
He had bilateral talipes and had boots and bar for 4 years. A year sooner than expected...
You'd never know. He even walked round in them and scaled the stairs at some speed.
Try not to worry op.
Worst bit was sourcing socks without seems and nappy time.
And consider which pushchair will work with the bar...

Ask if you can speak to an orthopaedic consultant. I met DC’s before birth and it was so reassuring.

Dc also had ‘echogenic loccii’ and the fetal medicine unit said this with talipes was a soft marker (I.e unproven ) for some Trisomies. So we had amnio - all clear.

I felt very guilty as I was sure something I had done that caused this. Our orthopaedic consultant all but rolled her eyes and said it was highly unlikely that something as common as talipes was linked to genetic conditions ‘rarer than hen’s teeth’ and that in the first weeks of conception millions of cell divisions are happening fast and it’s easy for one to go amiss. And much more likely than me drinking water from plastic bottles.

Kids are incredibly resilient and accepting of circumstances. Dc learned to walk, age one, in a thigh length cast and was totally chuffed with themself.

Our consultant also arranged for us to come into clinic on days when families with the same condition were present so we could chat to them.

@OffTheMap that sounds so helpful. We have not been offered anything like that. Is this something you were offered or had to chase? And was that in the UK? We will be receiving treatment at Addenbrooks in Cambridge.