Cord Stump Scare

Exactly a week after he was born, Paul lost his umbilical raisin. I found it stuck to the inside of his onesie while changing his diaper. And I, being the new, naive mother that I am, was not expecting the inside of his new belly button to be so red and goopy like an open wound. I called Blair into the room and we decided to use our brand new parental judgment by applying rubbing alcohol and covering it with a band aid in the hopes that it would dry up and heal without getting infected.

We didn't have any "normal" band aids at the time. Just the super adhesive, waterproof, stretchy kind. I tried dulling the stickiness by patting the band aid on the burp cloth a few times.

Then... on went the band aid.

Immediately Blair and I regretted our parental decision! I tried picking at the corner of the band aid to see how difficult it might be to peel off later, and to my frightened disappointment, his delicate skin had become one with the band aid.

For the next couple of days I worried and fretted over that stupid band aid, imagining a bloody mess when we eventually did try to tare it off. I was also imagining our embarrassment as we took him to his next week's doctor's appointment, trying to explain why our newborn had an extra sticky band aid plastered to his stomach. What kind of parents were we? Poor Paul!

To my great relief, two days later I was able to carefully peel one corner away, and tediously peel up to half of the band aid off! The remaining half was still too sticky.

These types of procedures are usually done best during his sleepy times. :)

As you can see there was no blood or rash, just a slight red mark.

Blair and I decided it was time for his first bath. That should get the rest of the band aid off!

He hated his first bath. That was the most we'd ever heard him scream!

The pacifier (plug) made his screams sound even more sad and pathetic. Needless to say, his bath time was kept very short.

It was a success! Paul was band aid free and got to recover from his traumatic bath in daddy's arms. Maybe we aren't such bad parents after all.

And here's a cute video to prove he turned out healthy and happy. He is just nine days old in this video.