Finally, He Really Did Do Something To His Nose!

Yes, I am showing you a photo of The Boy and his scraped nose. The Boy refers to it as his "Road Runner" just because I called it Road Rash when it happened. Sorry to be posting photos of injuries, but I have been waiting for him to actually have an injury on his nose for almost 4 years now. Why, you ask?

You see, back when he was born, he seemed to be just as perfect as could be (except for the crooked pinkie toes). He had a little bruise on the end of his nose, but I figured that was because this gargantuan baby was running out of room in the limited space of my womb, and his nose paid the price.







However, we noticed that the little bruise wasn't going away, but getting a little redder and a little larger. It still wasn't much but we talked to the doctor about it anyway.

Sure enough it was a hemangioma. Thing 1 has one on her hip, and we noticed that it was starting to go away about this time (she was 5 years old). The Boy's looked a little different, but once we knew what we were dealing with, it didn't seem too bad. This next picture was taken when he was 5 weeks old and there was a little bit of swelling and redness at the end of his nose.

It reached is biggest, darkest point when he was about 6 months old. We saw a specialist and he was encouraging. He figured that it would grow to a certain point, then after a while it would start to disappear. We weren't too worried for him, and I'll admit, I was so glad this was happening to my boy instead of one of my girls. With the body image issues girls already will face, I was relieved that this wasn't happening to them, I hope that isn't too terrible of me.

Anyhow, the whole reason I even started this post was because of all the comments we would get, "Oh, did he bonk his nose?" "What did he do to his nose?" "Oh my, what happened to him?"

Aaargh!!! I was getting these comments when he was just 2 months old and it was all I could do to not get too snarky at people and just answer back that, "Yes, indeed, I dropped my two month old son on his face on the cement and then dragged him around until it was big and purple like that!!!" (As that is what it would take to create something that looked even close to his.)

Then there were all the kids that would point and stare, yes I realize this is very normal child behavior and I am not upset with the children. I am more disappointed in the parents that didn't use that as a teaching opportunity and, instead, just let their kid say whatever they wanted to say. Weak!

What was most interesting is that people I was becoming acquainted with at the time were somewhat timid to ask about it, but complete strangers could say or ask anything. I just want to thank those who have since become friends, that were so considerate of our feelings and didn't just blurt something out. I don't mind answering questions and I don't mind talking about it in the least, I just really appreciate the delicate kindness shown by those I now call friends!

Thankfully, time has ended up being a remarkable friend to the hemangioma and the color has normalized considerably and his face has grown closer to the size of the nose. See how cute he is?

Well, guess what?



Three years later we had another baby boy!



He, too, appeared perfectly normal at birth, he didn't even have crooked pinkie toes! YAY! But I immediately noticed a little familiar bruise under his left eye. Everyone told me it was nothing, but I knew!





Soon it looked like a little shiner! And the comments and questions from strangers are in full force once again. So, let me just get this out in the open, I did not punch my baby in the eye! I promise, you can even ask his doctor.

His baby photo seems to hide it pretty well also, but it was there. I remember rubbing a little of my mineral powder on it just to reduce the bright redness! I'm kind of silly that way.

All in all, we actually kind of like the "character" it adds. We think it is a good start for a future linebacker! It's not too big, and I'm totally not worried about it or bothered by it. But I will again admit to how happy I am that this was something our boy had to deal with instead of one of our girls. And if kids give him any grief about it, well, he'll be able to defend himself just fine!

Looking at the baby, he doesn't look like he has a single care in the world, and we love it!

And just a little FYI, here are two little videos I have found recently about hemangiomas ... very interesting (and short) if you don't know about them.