When I was five months pregnant, I went in for a routine ultrasound. At that time, I was told that I was going to have a girl and that she had clubfoot. I was totally devastated at the news, but I knew that it could be fixed.
On March 23, 2007, I went in to have a scheduled c-section. At 7:49 am, my beautiful daughter was born. All I remember is jokingly asking if she had ten fingers and ten toes, and the room went silent. I was then rolled off to a recovery room, where I waited until after 10 a.m. for a nurse to come in and tell me that my daughter had something called Amniotic Band Syndrome. She described my daughter’s hands, right leg, and all her toes. All I could do was cry from shock, but I never once thought of anything but how much I loved that little girl and I hadn’t even seen her yet at that time. The nurse then asked me if I still wanted to see her. I screamed at her that she better get me my daughter right now!
When I saw my little Mikhala, it was like everything was okay. Sure there would be obstacles, but she was so beautiful! Her left hand was like a little mitten, and on her right hand her ring and pinky fingers were fused and she has a short thumb about half the size it should be. Her right leg had a deep band mark just under the knee and another at the ankle. This caused severe lymphedema in the lower leg and foot, along with the clubfoot. To date, she has had six surgeries. She is scheduled to have clubfoot repair surgery on April 14, 2009, and at least two more surgeries in the near future. At that point, she can make further decisions as she gets older. She is now the happiest, healthiest two year old that I have ever seen. She loves life and has adapted extremely well.
