Tuesday, August 23, 2005

Strawberry Jam


red alert!


Jesse's got this huge red spot on his torso, the size of a 50 sen coin. When I first saw it in the delivery room, it freaked me out a little and all of my grandma's taboo stories came back to me. We Chinese folks have taboos for everything and a child's birth defects were usually a result of his parents indiscretions.

"Oh, that's a Strawberry Naevus," the doctor told me, "It'll be gone in a few years." She took a look at my pathetic, worried face and added, "Don't worry-lah!"

Turns out that Strawberry Naevus is a fairly common occurrence. It's a cluster of blood vessels gone wrong - sort of like a rebellion of the circulatory system. It's not permanent nor painful, but it is a little unsightly though. Especially if you've got one as big as Jesse's. Also, apparently 60% of the condition usually effects the face and neck. Thank God Jesse's strawberry grew on his torso instead.
So yeah, when Jesse came out into the world, he brought his own fruit. Heh. Sort of like a welcome gift for his parents. Thankfully, he didn't consider a fruit basket. Anyway, as promised, it's started to fade a little already. Our paediatrician tells us that it ought to be gone by the time Jesse turns 4 or 5.

*phew*

16 comments:

  1. some people say such marks bring good luck wor...
    but as long as not harmful to health i think shouldn't worry so much about it.
    after all beauty is only skin deep ;)

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  2. WOW! Jesse is really lucky that the strawberry didn't grow on his face...phew!
    Else we might not see any photo of him for the next 4-5 years :P
    Glad to know more about this common occurance though..

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  3. this is my first time seeing this mark so upclose. thanks for sharing wid us, jesse's fruit :)

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  4. actually, it looks kinda cute :D
    sigh.... babies.... everything looks cute on them!
    ;)

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  5. my cousin used to have the same when she was born. it was on her knee. now, not trace of it. :D

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  6. Yeah take lots of picture for his memory while it lasts. At first I tot it was a birth mark, thank goodness it is not.

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  7. wow..first time for me too...good to know....
    the no.1's mongolion mark still belum disappear...they LIED to me, when they said that it would go by the time he's 1.... ahhh.. no harm done.

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  8. WOW!!! That just gave me the heebie-jeebies. :)
    Caleb has all these blueblack patches on his hind-side (mongolian marks) that people must think we abuse him!!
    Ahh... better take HEAPS of photos so that you can show this off one day at Jesse's wedding...

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  9. I have a birth mark on my right hand and everytime people see it, they will told me, you've got some dirt on your hand, phew!

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  10. Honestly, it scared me when I saw the pic. Praise the Lord that it will go away.
    But think about it, it's the inner beauty that counts. There isn't much point for a person to be gorgeous on the outside and ugly on the inside.
    =)

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  11. Heh. Egghead, if it had grown on Jesse's face, we'd probably wouldn't know what to do.
    :lol: It's probably not true Lynnee, since we're stilll pretty poor.
    Babe, looking at the shots again gave us quite a shock. We don't remember it being so red. :)
    Sometimes it peeks out of his shirt, Purpleflower. But nah, I dun think too many people thought it was cute.
    Thanks Miche. That was reassuring!
    Yeah Michelle. I hadn't even planned on blogging this but I decided to, for posterity's sake.
    :lol: Jesse's still got his too, MOTT!
    Indeed, Melo-Jo. We'll project it up on the screen as his bride walks down the aisle. :lol:
    Ah, that must be a Cafe AuLait or a Portwine Stain, Beauty!
    X-Rich's Gal: Inner beauty is important, but I'd still hate for him to have a permanent birthmark. :)

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  12. Hey.. James,
    I know as parents we get very worried for the slightest thing that has anything to do with our precious.
    I can sympathised with what you had to go thru'. Hope everything just disappear in no time.. :)

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  13. Jessie would probably get them again when he's older.. you know.. but they probably disappear in a week after you see em.. ha ha ha.. .*THE HICKIES*... anybody got any interesting HICKIE stories?

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  14. thanks for sharing james :) my friend has a beautiful baby with a strawberry on the top of her head. she's still lovely as a doll and it's good to know the strawberry will fade away! i have a scar that looks like a fade away strawberry on the side of my head too. i wonder if it was a strawberry once, but my parents said it was something else. in any case, it never bothered me much :) just less hair for me which is good, i have tooo much hair then i'd like to manage anyways hehe.

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  15. haha...wow that is big!....hahah i`m nineteen this year and my strawberry mark is still on me..altho it has faded allot since i was born...hehe...=Pp...

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