Our little blueberry nose

So Sean and I have the most adorable little girl on the planet. We know this because when we take her out people stop and exclaim, "My word! What a cute baby! Why, she must be the most adorable little girl on the planet!" Really, it's not our totally biased opinion. The people have spoken and this is what they have said. "Look at those big eyes!" "What a sweet little peanut!" and "She's just the cutest baby I've ever seen!" are among the other such statements of glee and overall infatuation with Little C.

Lately, along with these comments about how cute she is, Cora has been getting some questions. "What did you do to your nose, little one?" "Did you take a tumble, baby girl?" they ask her. She is, of course, very well versed in her response to these questions. Generally she stares at them and fills her pants.

Cora of Arabia and her trusty steed, Joshua Giraffe II

While her parents find this response entirely appropriate, we realize some more explanation may be in order. We agree that this blog might be an easy way to answer most of your questions at once, and save us some time in relaying the Legend of the Blueberry Nose so you can get back to telling us how cute she is! (Really, it's not us, you just can't resist her big brown eyes!) 

The purplish-blue spot on Little C's nose, while it appears to be a bruise, is actually something called a hemangioma. (Please continue reading this post before fervently googling "hemangioma on nose". It will make you feel better.) Like everyone else, we thought Cora had just banged up her nose on the carpet during the great American baby past time of Tummy Time. Upon a quick trip to the pediatrician for what turned out to be baby acne, the doctor discovered the little bruise is actually a birthmark. Hemangioma are essentially a cluster of blood cells, referred to as a tumor, but definitely benign. It usually shows up during the first couple of months of a baby's life, and it will grow until they're around 10-12 months old. After that time, the hemangioma will begin to shrink down, generally fading by the time the kid is about 5 or 6, but sometimes taking a bit longer. They're a fairly common birthmark in infants, most notably in caucasian females who were born prematurely or at a low birth weight. (Sound like anyone you know?)

Usually they aren't cause for concern, but depending on the location there can be a risk for deformity once the hemangioma shrinks back down. Since Cora's is on her nose, her doctors think it's a good idea for us to proactively treat it rather than wait for her to have surgery when she's about a year old. (Where's the page in her baby book for "Baby's First Nose Job"?) Yesterday Sean and I took her to the Children's Hospital of Wisconsin to be seen by the best of the best in hemangioma treatment. The doctor there explained to us that her hemangioma is rather large for her age, but still at the point where we should be able to stop the growth before it causes any damage that would require surgery. She's not at all concerned that it will affect Cora's breathing or anything like that (though she may sound a little more congested at times due to increased blood flow to the nose), and we've got a great team of doctors working with her to be proactive about this!

Really we are so thankful that this is the only thing we have to deal with. Walking around the Children's Hospital yesterday we realized things could be worse for our Little C. She's otherwise healthy (ok, so she's super tiny with a big head, but that's just genetics for you!) and this should really only affect her cosmetically and for the first year of her life. We'll try to keep you all posted on this blog regarding her progress.

In the meantime, she will still be a blueberry nose girl. Feel free to notice it and ask her questions, but I can't guarantee her response will be as informative as mine! Then you can go ahead and keep telling her what a cute and sweet little girl she is. Because let's face it, she's adorable and she rocks her blueberry nose like nobody's business.