Boy did we learn a lesson. It was recommended that Anna start her clubfoot treatment as soon as possible. We had her casts put on four days after birth. On the fifth day we went to our new pediatrician and he thought she looked a little jaundiced and sent us to the local hospital for a blood test. That is when we learned that routine infant blood tests are taken with heel sticks. Anna was wearing casts from her hip to her toes. This meant that her blood needed to be taken from a vein in her arm. Six pound babies have very small arms and even smaller veins that pump blood through them. One by one the lab techs declined to give it a whirl and the job fell on the head of the department who managed to get a decent blood sample with a little effort. The test results showed Anna needed to be admitted for treatment and would require blood tests every few hours.

Looking back now, I can see the best thing would have been to soak off the casts and had them re-applied after her hospital stay. But we were first time parents, overwhelmed and frankly quite tired.
So we watched for almost two days as she was stuck repeatedly with various needles in both arms by lab-techs doing the best they could to get a blood samples. It was painful for my wife and I, the lab-techs and most importantly, Anna.

Anna was treated with UV lights for a couple days and released. Here is a picture of our little "blue light special"

Anna in the "House of Blue Light"

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