I took Rebekah and Joseph to the doctor for their b-day check ups yesterday. Here are the stats: Rebekah - Height = 25th percentile, Weight = 50th percentile (not so bad...and she does LOVE food); Joseph - Height= 25th percentile, Weight = just missed the 3rd percentile. Well, at least he'll be easy to carry for a little longer. Sheesh! What is with these tiny guys?
Joseph isn't speaking yet, which didn't concern the doctor since it follows the family pattern. Rebekah nearly talked his head off, though.
I did show the doctor a funny thing about Joseph's foot and leg. He's had little brown markings around one ankle, the side and part of the top of the foot and they had slowly been making their way up the back of his leg in a crooked, but thin tan line. They didn't seem to bother him and you couldn't feel them with your finger. I just makes him look like he needs a bath. (That, and the other real dirt marks all over him.)
So the doctor first remarked that his wife has that, but it's a birth mark and doesn't grow. He brought the other doctor in to have a look and they decided that it was just a genetic "thing." I think they would have said defect, but they didn't want to worry me. They said it was harmless, but would likely never really go away. Then my doctor tried to explain it to me. When he was done, I admitted that I didn't really understand what he'd just said, but I was just glad to know that it wasn't dangerous. So he started over, trying to help me "get it."
Essentially (I think), it's a little part of the cells that make skin pigments (melanocytes) that didn't quite get the signal to stop and created some darker skin. They are apparently following a nerve up the leg, but his little 'cheek' there is where the nerve and the line stops. The darker spots may fade between 2-5 years (or was it 3-5?), but that's not certain. There is always the option of zapping them with a laser if we ever get desperate...many years from now.
I was looking around online today and found that moles are just a clustering of melanocytes. I guess that makes it seem a little more normal. Too bad Joseph is such a white boy...that's going to be a pretty conspicuous line going up his leg!
That's pretty crazy!!! Just be glad you're not my sister-in-law. Her son (who has polynesian descent) has a funny birthmark on his back that looks like a huge black and blue bruise - there have actually been people who have thought that she had abused her son because of the mark. It probably won't fade until adulthood and will never really go away! The body does some crazy things!
ReplyDeleteSure glad that there is nothing dangerous with Joseph's mark!!!!