A new mum who noticed her baby daughter was always covering her face during scan photos was stunned to realize it wasn’t with her hands – but instead her legs. A baby girl amazed doctors when she was born looking like a ‘ready-to-eat counter chicken’ with her legs flung forward and feet beside her shoulders.
Willow Flather-Paziuk, now one month old, stunned an entire team of doctors, who branded her a ‘little gymnast’ because of her flexible pose.
The flexible tot had her legs flung forward and feet beside her shoulders puzzling mum Lily Paziuk, 20, who now believes she has a mini gymnast on her hands.
“I had no idea babies could be born like that,” said Lily, from Cleckheaton, West Yorkshire.
“I thought her feet were back to front at first and wondered what was going on.”
Doting mum Lily has even affectionately dubbed her daughter ‘little chicken’ because of the position’s hilarious likeness to a cooked chicken. Willow, who is now one month old, was thankfully unhurt and has now restored her legs to a more normal position after three weeks. She does, however, love to sleep with her legs by her sides and her ankles by her shoulders in a split that would match that of a professional gymnast. Willow’s mother was overjoyed when an ultrasound revealed that her daughter’s hips were unaffected by the unusual position.
Lily said: “We call her little chicken because she still puts her legs out to the side all the time, even in the position she sleeps in. She does just look like a little chicken.
“Because I had her by cesarean, I didn’t see her straight away so I had no idea.
“The doctors were shocked. I was quite out of it but I do remember they were all quite shocked.
“When I got back on the ward all the midwives were laughing that they couldn’t get her feet in the baby grow.
“It was definitely a big surprise for me to see her. I went to change her nappy for the first time and they just sprung out. I was like ‘oh my god’.
“It’ll definitely be a joke as she grows older. I’ll never let her forget it.”
She added: “I think she’ll be very flexible. She can still get back into that position even now.
“When I go to change her nappy sometimes she flings her legs back into that position. She remembers it very well.”
Lily feels her 7lb 8oz baby became locked in an unusual position because she ran out of room in the womb to stretch her legs down. Despite the fact that Willow was in a typical position during her 15-week ultrasound, Lily had been told that her daughter had her hands over her face at every subsequent check. The mum has since realized that it was Willow’s feet covering her face – and can even spot it in her scan photos. But Lily was terrified that moving her newborn’s legs might hurt her and was disappointed she couldn’t dress her up in any of the new babies grows she had bought for her arrival.
Lily said: “I felt bad because I spent a fortune on all these little baby clothes and she couldn’t wear any of them. She could only wear vests because her legs wouldn’t go in anything.
‘She could only wear vests because her legs wouldn’t go in anything. She bent her knees the day after, but they were up at her side for about three weeks.
“She bent her knees the day after, but they were up at her side for about three weeks.
“I struggled to hold her and couldn’t change her nappy. I didn’t even know where to begin.
“It was really funny, but I was scared of hurting her as well. I was trying to work out if I could put her legs together.
“It makes a lot more sense now that she’s out and they saw that her legs were in that position as well.”
Miss Paziuk added: ‘Willow is all good now. She’s had an ultrasound on her hips and they’re all fine. Her legs are back to a normal position and are fully straight now.
‘She still sleeps in the same position though with her legs at the side. It must be a comforting position for her, bless her.’
