Charlie vs. the Hair - Our First ER Visit

(I just added this picture so you could see what chunks my boys have become! The bottom picture is Charlie's foot the day he and Griffin were born. They have now tripled their birth weight!) Now the reason for this post...

We learned a new term this weekend. It is 'Hair Tourniquet.' Many of you know that about 2 months after you give birth you start to shed a lot of hair (after not losing a single one during pregnancy). Babies lose their hair about that time too. I read it was due to the huge decrease of some hormone (estrogen maybe?). Anyway, after a trip to the ER and the near loss of 2 of Charlie's toes I want to warn you about the hazard that a mother's hair can have to her own child.

So, I was feeding Charlie about 11pm Saturday night, and rubbing his toes. He kind of started to cry, which is strange because eating is like his favorite thing in the world, and I felt something crusty between his toes. So, I tried to look, but it was kind of dark, and he cried when I messed with his toes, so I just waited till he was done eating. Brought him into the light and looked on the back of his toes and see a little scabbing, but bend open his toes and it is really deep, like kind of looks like his toe is cut in half from back to front. I freak out, Irby looks with a flashlight and says, Oh My Goodness, his toe is only half hanging on, and it looks like he has hair wrapped around his toes! So Irby tries to cut the hair with a pocket knife, but it turns out to be much worse and deeper than we thought. It is so deep in there he can't see it, and there is open flesh back in the folds of his toes. From the front, it is not too noticeable and looks like another knuckle (is that even what you call toe joints?) or toe 'bracelet' as we call the baby wrist fat creases. I am freaking out, call the Dr., he says to go ER, so Irby took him, and they were able to get it out. I was sure he was going to lose his toes for not being able to find and cut the hair as it was so tightly wrapped and thus so deeply cutting into his skin. I cannot believe what damage a piece of hair can do. That is just one of the crazier things I've seen lately. Even crazier was the fact that they have a term for it, 'Hair Tourniquet,' so this is not the first time this freak thing has happened. It is looking much better each day and seems to be hurting him less.

PS-Todd, the ER doc is probably rolling his eyes about this one. Crazy, stupid mothers leaving hair around to entangle and possibly dismember their own child's toe. Praise GOD we saw it in time, and we think he will probably make it out of this with all his toes, after a little while of bandaging to make sure it heals completely. Hair, I mean seriously? If hair can be a hazard, ANYTHING can be a hazard. Not good news for this worrier of a Mama. So, I guess Bumble and Bumble 'Thickening" shampoo really works. Not sure if that should be a lawsuit or a commercial.