Starting from the beginning...

Tell me a bit about you? So about me I’m 31 years old and married to the most fantastic wife, Anna. We seem to spend most of our free time in the gym or out and about walking with our two maniac dogs. I do quite a bit walking with friends as well (will go into this a bit more in a bit) Work wise - since the age of 20 Ive worked in the Prison Service. For the first 8 of them on the landings as a prison officer and although now I am in a more specialist role I am still operational so still working with prisoners - though theres also a lot more time in an office with a computer too now. What is your limb difference?   My limb difference is that I was born with a talipes foot. My left foot. Its unilateral (just the one) and the doctors said it was caused by my position in the womb.  By all accounts my foot was quite significantly turned in and twisted upside down. Strangely it turns out my wife’s sister (Ginny) also had the same prob...

We have finally had an appointment with the right team (woohoo!). Our appointment was at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital, admittedly I had never heard of this hospital before. But after some googling of the hospital, and the consultant we are under I hoped we were finally in the right place ... and we were! The first surprise when we arrived was that the parking was free ... I mean how many hospital have free parking? ... I work at a hospital and have to pay to park there ... so this almost felt like a late Christmas present.  Obviously I ensured we arrived early (a whole hour early to be exact) and wondered up to the outpatients to check in. Once checked in we decided to go and get a drink to kill a bit of time. I also felt like I needed to keep 'busy' and drinking a nice hot chocolate seemed like the best idea to help ease my nerves and make we feel like I was doing something - feeling anxious is a funny thing isn't it, why does keeping your hands busy he...

After my second 20 week scan and it being confirmed that my son would have a single digit on his foot and now other complications they could see, we were given information for the charity REACH which is for upper limb differences ... I guess you can see the problem there? The ironic thing is it took me a while to want to look through that information and by the time I was ready to look into this world, I didn't even have the right information to start looking for advice and support. So, I have decided to try and put a bit of an information list about websites for various limb differences. It'll mainly focus on the UK but will have some websites from America. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ⇨REACH⇦ REACH is a charity for children with upper limb differences. Their website has a members options, which helps you gain access to plenty of support and advice, meet up...

I've been thinking a lot recently about how I felt finding out at 20 weeks that something was different with my baby. I have a lot of lovely friends who are expecting, and have had their 20 week scans, or are due. Admittedly I have been anxious leading up to their scans, and wait for messages about how it went. Rationally I know the chances are slim that anything will be wrong with their little babies, but I can't help but feel that odd pang of anxiousness for them. Initially I felt a bit silly feeling like this, and a little uncertain as to why I was getting that feeling of anxiety wash over me every now and again, knowing that the scans are coming up. I have now put it down to the fact that I just care a lot about my friends and their babies, and I just don't want them to feel that feeling of complete despair that your body has somehow let you down, you have done something wrong, the 'it could be worse' feeling that your just not ready to feel positive about....

Evening! If you have been following my blog you will be well and truly aware that I have been super anxious/scared/excited about Mr.N's foot appointment at St. Georges. I just felt like a lot was weighted on this, and it almost felt like everything as we knew it rested on this appointment - dramatic I know!! So, we arrived at our appointment (nice and early of course) and we were seen on time. A 1:30pm appointment kind of made me think we were first on the list following their lunch. Well, let me just say I couldn't sit still with neves, I drink about 1 litre of water and fiddled with Mr. N and his buggy - anything to help me feel busy. But the appointment went perfectly and better than I had hoped! The specialists were hands, fingers and forefoot specialist, and as he doesn't have much of a forefoot they felt that there wasn't anything that they needed to do. They were happy that he has a heel and even though he doesn't have a big toe, he does have a toe t...

Meet Tiffany a fantastic mum to 3 beautiful children, this account is truly honest and inspiring and I can resonate with some of these feelings. It honestly brought a tear to my eye! Tell me abit about you? My name is Tiffany, I'm the mother of three beautiful little red heads. Keegan is 7 - he's my brilliant mind, always building legos or reading a book. Addy is 5 - she's my adventurous spirit, usually found twirling in some kind of a dress, and angling to get into mama's make up. Ollie is 17 months old and currently obsessed with his newfound freedom of walking, all things outdoors, and his big brother and sister.  What is your limb difference? My daughter Addy was born with Symbrachydactyly on her right side. It caused her forearm to be shortened and she does not have a wrist or hand on that side. She has little tiny "nubbins" that would have been fingers that she can wiggle. We call it her "lucky fin" as this makes it easy t...

Tell me about about you?  My name is Hazel Newhouse, I am a pblogger and a mum of 4. I have 3 girls and a son. We live in Bedfordshire and live self sufficiently growing our own food and being passionate about reducing waste and our plastic usage.  What is your's or your loved ones limb difference? My son Jimmy was born with Bilateral Syndactyly and webbed toes. His Syndactyly affects both hands, which makes his ring and middle fingers fused. The tips of his fingers share a joined fingernail. Both feet have webbing on the 3rd and 4th toes too.  When did you find out Jimmy had a limb difference? We found out about 3 minutes after he was born. We didn't have a clue that he was going to be born with the Syndactyly. It was a huge surprise but it does run in the family. My husband's dad has webbed toes and his brother had webbing on one hand (it was separated when he was a young boy), but nothing as complex as Jimmy's. When he was born they laid ...