"Night-Night" Shoe Update of Sorts

We've got three nights and three naps under our belt in our new "Night-Night" shoes. The naps are really no biggie. She isn't phased by her shoes in the middle of the afternoon and handles it very well. She doesn't even insist, as she used to when she wore them before, that we take them off as soon as she gets up. But nights are a whole different matter. The first night was very difficult. She handled them without complaint for about the length of a nap and then fussed. And fussed. And fussed. And fussed. Did I mention she fussed? We'll never know if it was really the shoes or the start of the cold or whatever she had at the moment but whatever it was, she wasn't happy. And around here, if Laura isn't happy, Mommy and Daddy get no sleep.

The second night found me rummaging for padding to put under the middle strap. We tried a strip of foam and, when you account for the thickness, we loosened the strap just a touch to accommodate it. Voila! No fussing. Again, last night was fuss free from the feet perspective so I think we'll find a more long term solution and we'll be set for awhile. I've thought of finding a denser foam (so it lasts longer), sheepskin (we have some real stuff but it is awfully thick...), and perhaps trying to find some real moleskin as the stuff we have from Wallyworld just doesn't do a darn thing. Or even paying for some pringles from John, the Shoemaker. But we'd like to avoid that large of an expense if we can. I'm very open to other suggestions if anyone has any to offer.

Meanwhile, please pray with us that these do help keep her bones in the right place long term and that we don't need to consider surgery in the future. We're still waiting to hear back from Dr. Ponseti regarding whether to recorrect her feet with casts or not, but we've gone ahead with the shoe wear anyway. I'm looking forward to hearing from him and will let you know if trips to Iowa will be necessary. We've come to accept that if there is a need for something extraordinary in order to help her, like traveling to Iowa several times for recasting, Laura will indeed need it. Perhaps this will be the first time in a new path for her. We can only pray... :)