Maja's Belly Button Woes...

When Maja was just about a week old, her umbilical cord remains fell off. Although the majority of her belly button was healed, there was a small little 'bulb' of pink skin that wasn't. As time went on we watched the bulb ooze a bit and crust over (sorry for the gross details...) and wondered if it was normal. We checked with a total of four doctors and each of them said it was normal and that it would heal in time. Well last week when Maja woke up one morning I noticed her sleeper had blood on it around the belly button. Obviously I was worried, so I called the doctor's office and we made an appointment for that afternoon. As it turns out, although these bulbs (now we now they're called granulomas) are normal, them bleeding is not (surprise, surprise...). The paediatrician referred us to a paediactic surgeon (yikes) so that she could remove it. Once I heard surgeon, I freaked out inside my head. All I could picture was my little baby laying on an operating table with tubes hanging off her and me bawling in the waiting room wondering how much longer her surgery was going to be. Well, rest assured the process to remove it is nothing like that.

Yesterday, Baba, Maja and I headed to North York General to see the paediatric surgeon about the belly button. The doctor took one look at it, cleaned the area and then used a swab with some nitric acid (or some other fancy named chemical) on it to rub the bulb. This basically burned the skin (no pain to Maja... only me as I watched - I'm such a wimp) so the bulb will fall off. Well, today her belly button is all grey and I can see that the bulb is black and will hopefully fall off soon. If I notice any pink parts tomorrow, the doctor said I could use the swab myself and burn the remaining part (look... I'm practically a doctor now!). Here's hoping I won't have to do that.

Anyhow, when we went to the doctor's last week we weighed Maja... she was a whopping 13lbs 12 oz! This kid just keeps getting bigger and bigger - it's great! :) She is now actually out growing a lot of her 6-month onesies... guess we'll have to go shopping for some new clothes! What's a baby to do?!?

Now for the good stuff... here are some photos that we thought you'd enjoy!

Here's Maja testing out the treadmill at the doctor's office last week. I know it looks like she's just standing there, but in reality her legs were moving sooo fast that the naked eye (or the camera) couldn't see them move that fast. I only know because I was there, saw the speed she was running at and heard the whizzing as they moved...
Here is Maja enjoying a bit of naked time (and mooning the neighbours at the same time). Look at all those cute rolls...
And here is a shot of me and Maja as we waited for the doctor last week...