Laelia Sky

I wrote this last week for a mom who has a six-month old with the same condition as Laelia.  She was worried that because her child barely moved her arms, that this would mean a future of having to do everything for her daughter–brushing her teeth, helping her go potty, everything.  After writing this I decided to share an edited version (the Laelia section) of it with everyone.  So if your child has arthrogryposis or amyoplasia and you’re worried they’ll never do anything with their arms, then be encouraged!  These kids are rock stars!

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My daughter was born with barely any arm muscle too. We did (and still do) daily stretches and weight bearing and activities to get her to move her arms, but it just didn’t seem to help her move. We found out later that she was born without biceps too.  And I was so worried when she was six months old that I’d be doing everything for her.  I mean, she barely EVER moved.  If we saw a flinch we got excited.  Well here I’ll show you; just copy and past the following links to see.

Laelia 3 months-6 months

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qNMkk4iQ6c&NR=1 <– Laelia couldn’t move her arms either
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i50exmwoxCI <–first time she ever significantly lifted her right arm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-Xtw2EjcbE <–her left

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wRlZmYWIdI <–first time she ever moved her right arm at all

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFSJiR5oZs8 <–first time she ever moved her right shoulder to reach

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRjE5EAvXHA <–her left

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulXMBpGcmSQ <–reaching across her chest with her right arm

Okay these videos look downright depressing, right? Look familiar at all? And you can see just how little she moved. But these kids adapt.

1 year later
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGAJPO6QMcA <–Lali lifts both arms her own way

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYNwHp2q … re=related <–first time she ever feeds herself

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KuMxDjz5 … re=related <–turning pages of her toy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqkzCTPxdA0&NR=1 <–yeah, my kid can play ball

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEHhlUTbSqA <–I invented this and now she can reach things at eye level

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cn0zSvoTr_U <–this video doesn’t show that she got her own arm up on the table too

Laelia at 2 years old
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykztWbAlpfw <–working a caster cart (the poor man’s wheelchair)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2iuECF2 … re=related <–driving a car!!!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 10th, 2010 at 12:18 pm and is filed under baby, hooray, video. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.