My brave stepdaughter

As I wrote last week, the time had come for A to be braced for her progressing scoliosis. She was fitted for her brace Tuesday morning at the hospital, and after a couple of fittings in the afternoon, she wore the brace home. She is only wearing it for a couple hours a day at this point, but every day she will wear it longer until she is up to wearing it for 23 hours a day.

I am so proud of her. I saw her Tuesday night at around 7. It was time for her to take the brace off after wearing it for about 3 hours or so. I have to say I wasn't prepared for how uncomfortable it looks on her. I had seen pictures of the brace she was going to get, and understood how much of her it was to cover, but I was just taken aback by how stiff and awkward it seemed. She was SO happy to take it off. She is being such a trooper. C talked to her last night and she sounded good. She is going to start wearing the brace to school on Monday, and start sleeping in it soon after that. C and I are very anxious about how the "sleeping" part will go. A is a very light sleeper and often has a lot of trouble falling asleep. I am worried the brace will make bedtime a nightmare for her (and us), but we'll see. She has surprised me so far with how flexible and positive she has been about everything, so hopefully that will continue. C and I decided that at the end of every month we will have a special night out with A, either dinner or a movie or something, to celebrate another month of being done with the brace. We want to give her little milestones to look forward to, and also help her feel like she is making progress. She's a brave girl!!

-The Good Stepwitch