Strawberry Girl

When Lorelai was born, we looked her over for a birth mark. Matt does not have one, but I have a decent sized one on my back (probably 4x5 at least). We never saw anything, so we assumed she didn't have one. When she was about 2 weeks old, we noticed a little red abrasion on her collar bone. It looked just like she had been pinched hard enough to raise some blood to the surface. We figured that we had somehow just pinched her in her car seat. Well, it never went away. In fact, it continued to grow! By her 1 month appointment, it was a fair size. We asked Dr. Megow to check it out and it turns out that it is a capillary hemangioma.

Here is the definition from wikipedia.com: A capillary hemangioma (also known as an "Infantile hemangioma," and "Strawberry hemangioma") appears as a raised, red, lumpy area of flesh anywhere on the body, though 83% occur on the head or neck area. The mark usually appears between one and four weeks after birth. It may grow rapidly, before stopping and slowly fading. Some are gone by the age of 2 , about 60% by 5 years, and 90–95% by 9 years. Capillary hemangiomas occur 5 times more often in female infants than in males, and mostly in Caucasian populations. Additionally, low birthweight infants have a 26% chance of developing a hemangioma. While this birthmark may be alarming in appearance, physicians generally counsel that it be left to disappear on its own, unless it is in the way of vision or blocking the nostrils. This picture is the one from wikipedia, NOT from Lorelai:

This is exactly what Dr. Megow told us (in not so scientific terms). She said that it would probably continue to grow for the next month or so and then, eventually, it would start to turn silver and fade from the inside out. At about 2-3 months it stopped growing and at her 4 month appointment, Dr. Megow said that she is starting to be able to see some silver in it.

It does not bother me or Matt one bit. I think that it just makes her more beautiful than she already is. We call it her "Strawberry" and I jokingly tell her that she is so beautiful that God gave her an extra little decoration. As weird as it sounds, I'm trying to actually enjoy it. I know that it will not be around forever (it will probably be gone by the time that she is 2), so I want to cherish it as it is a part of her "baby phase".

It is funny because people are just now noticing it for the first time. She is at church usually 3 times a week and because it is summer, she is usually wearing some kind of top that shows it. It doesn't bother me at all and I just praise God that it isn't on her face! Even though it would still go away if it was there, I wouldn't want her to look at her baby pictures down the road and only notice that. And I'm also glad that I don't have to deal with strange stares from strangers. At least with where it is at, it is hardly noticable.

On another note, she actually does have a permanant birthmark on the back of her neck. It is called a "stork bite". It is right at the base of her hair line and it is just a couple of little red splotches. These, however, won't go away. They are hardly noticable and one her hair grows, no one will se it at all. Even when we pull her hair up.

What a unique little girl we have!