Unnecessary Worrying

When Hannah was about 1 and a half months old she developed two hemangiomas—one on the top of her forehead and a larger one on her chest.

They were not visible when she was born but they slowly developed and grew over the coarse of a few weeks. It was something I never discussed here on the blog because it was never that big of a deal. They were in locations that didn't require immediate attention or surgery so we just accepted them.

It was around the same time that Hannah also developed a blocked tear duct in her right eye. This was evident in quite a few photos that I posted but again, I never discussed it on my blog. We just dealt with it in the hopes that she would grow out of it.

You can see both conditions here in this 3 month photo of Hannah.

The hemangioma on Hannah's head went away before she was one year old but she still has the one on her chest. Although with each passing month is gets lighter and lighter in color. It is actually almost the same color as her skin...but it's still raised in texture. We hope that in time it will continue to shrink in size and it will level out with the rest of her skin. It has come a long way—from bight red to pale pink—so we're confident that it will go away and she will not need any surgery to remove it.

As for the block tear duct, Hannah's first birthday came and the pediatrician actually told us to go see an eye doctor because she still had not grown out of it. The pediatrician though she might need surgery to correct it. So we paid the eye doctor a visit when she was 13 months old and he told us that it was, in fact, in Hannah's best interest to have surgery to fix the problem. Oddly enough, however, after we saw the eye doctor Hannah never had a problem with her eye again. It went away...just like that, and we never had to have the surgery.

Hemangiomas are not a genetic thing. They are random and can happen to anyone...although they are more common in girls. But when Colson was born I did worry that he would develop one or more somewhere on his body. And if he did get one, where would it be? Would it be in a location that would require surgery. Like I said above, we were not that concerned with Hannah's because of their location, but they could have just as easily been in a location that altered her appearance or that needed surgery because it affected her breathing, etc.

Blocked tear ducts are more of a genetic thing. My mom had one and Nick's grandma had one. Would Colson develop this problem? If he does would he end up needing the surgery?

A mother worries about every little thing...especially when they are things that are physically altering to your child so of course, I was worried.

But, now that Colson is almost 10 weeks old (and past the ages at which Hannah developed these conditions), I think it is safe to say that we will not have to worry about either one of these! And it is such a good feeling to know that I will not be constantly thinking about possible surgeries or procedures as a result of these.