Londyn's Story
Londyn's Story
Londyn's Spica Chair
For those who aren’t familiar with the DDH community, (lucky you!), there are these wonderful inventions called spica chairs. They are tables with a narrow seat so a casted baby or toddler can sit comfortably and have a surface to play on, eat, etc. When I first began my frantic google search of must-haves for spica babies, the spica chair was always at the top of the list.
I have only found one woman who makes them as her business, a lovely site called IvyRose Spica Chairs. She does beautiful work and hand paints these chairs and they’re just gorgeous. They do come with a bit of a price tag, as most pieces of handmade furniture would. Before Londyn was casted and I was doing a bunch of research, I wondered what happens to these spica chairs once families are done with them? Wouldn’t it be nice if we could purchase one second-hand and save some money? I emailed Stephanie, the owner of IvyRose chairs, asking if she knew anywhere this could be done and she quickly responded with a link to this Facebook group. It was such an answer to prayer. The first time I went on the site, I saw a post from a mom in Michigan wondering if anyone needed a spica chair. Her sweet baby was done with her spica journey and they wanted pass it on to someone else. I began chatting with her and within a few days Kyle ended up making the four hour drive one Sunday to pick up this spica chair. They generously donated it to us, for free, as they had been given it from another family, who had been given it from another family!
When Kyle got home with this chair, I had a ton of ideas running through my head for how to make it a little more girly! My parents were visiting at the time, so my poor dad and Kyle got bossed around by me and my to-do list for how to transform this chair. My sweet dad worked all day for a few days to clean, cut, sand, and replace worn parts of the spica chair. Kyle helped paint it a beautiful coral and then I got to have fun painting some flowers on it for Londyn. This was therapeutic, as it occurred in the days we were anxiously waiting for the spica cast to be put on her for the first time.
Since the table top is shaped to fit around the body of the cast, it has to be removed to get Londyn in or out. Kyle added hinges and a lid support to the table top to make this faster and easier. Now it stays upright and connected to the chair, rather than having to completely remove the top and lean it up against something.
Let me tell you, THIS CHAIR is my life! It’s the first place I put Londyn in the morning, and she plays while I get Grayson, myself, and breakfast ready. Multiple times throughout the day she is happy to hang out in it. The best part is that the chair is on wheels, so I can wheel it around to whatever room Grayson and I are in. (Most often the bathroom- for potty training. . .) We have used this chair for play, meals, a safe place for Londyn when we need two hands, and even Grayson claims it from time to time.
I’m so thankful for the gift of this handmade spica chair, and we will be sure to pass it on to another family when our spica journey is over.
