Pyogenic Granu-what!?

As I briefly mentioned in my last post, we found out that Redmond has a Pyogenic Granuloma on his forehead.  Thankfully, it's nothing serious and is common in babies/toddlers.  We first really started noticing it about 4-5 months ago.  Jason swears it has been there since birth, but I disagree.  I've looked at pictures from early on in Redmond's life and I don't see it.  Anyhoo, when I took Redmond for his first flu shot back in October I asked the nurse about it.  She said that it looked like it was a mole and not to worry unless it grew larger, changed color, etc.  So, we just left it at that.


See the little red dot on his forehead?  This was before it opened up.

Fast forward about a month later.  We were visiting my sister in VA, walking around downtown when my niece Sadie (thankfully!) said "Baby Redmond is bleeding!".  Redmond was in a stroller with both Jason and I behind him, we looked down and sure enough, he had blood flowing down his forehead.  Thankfully, my sister is a well-versed, prepared mom of three and quickly got in her purse and handed me a wad of tissues and a band-aid.  Redmond must have scratched the granuloma and the bleeding was horrible!  Of course, since it is on his forehead that is to be expected, but seeing my baby bleed for the first time (from his head no less!) totally sent me into a panic.  The poor guy had to wear a band-aid on his forehead for about 4 days - which, in turn, resulted into him getting a rash from the adhesive :(  He scratched it open one other time before we got to the dr. yesterday, but thankfully the blood was minimal.

So, the dr. informed us that it's basically a skin tag.  She was able to pull some of the excess skin off (sorry, tmi I know) which, of course, caused horrible bleeding.  She said to keep a band aid on it for a couple more days, then if it doesn't clear up within a couple of weeks we have to go back to see her.  Then, she'll most likely refer us to a dermatologist so they can graze what is left of it off.  I'm hoping it doesn't come to that!