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A Little Extra Something

It was around two in the morning. In the dimly lit hospital room, I nursed my baby, studying this new little person. His sweet face that reflected a little of each of his siblings, his tiny fingers, his slender delicate arms. Carefully, I unwrapped the swaddling blanket to check out his feet. There is something so precious about those miniature newborn feet. Caressing his soft skin, I looked at his feet. Something didn't seem right. I slowly counted his toes. I counted again. I turned on the light. I paged the nurse. On his left foot, I kept counting to six! Surely I was mistaken. The nurse came in, casually looked at his foot, and calmly replied, "Interesting. Usually it is not a fully formed toe." Usually? As in, this is a normal thing to have happen? Not in my little world!


After seeing the orthopedic doctor last week, we have a decision to make. Do we have it removed or leave it alone? The doctor left it up to us, though he did say it would be hard to find shoes that wouldn't rub and irritate his foot. That little toe is a part of him and I can't imagine changing how God made him. Thankfully we have several months to decide. They typically do this surgery around 6-9 months of age.


Meanwhile, it has bothered the kids that that little piggy doesn't have something to do in the nursery rhyme. After many ideas, Anna came up with "this little piggy went to the library". No, it doesn't rhyme, but it will do.

Comments

  1. How amazing! The funny part is that when you look at the picture, unless you are actually counting, his foot doesn't look anything except normal. But I can see in the picture with both feet that the extra toe would cause some issues with the shoes, especially when his foot gets bigger. My sister was born with two of her toes webbed together (2nd and 3rd) on one foot. She eventually (as a teenager) opted to have them separated because she also had problems with walking, wearing certain shoes, etc. You wouldn't think so, but it does make a difference.

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  2. Nemo had his flipper, Peter has his little toe. Perhaps that little toe went to Church. He is a perfect little boy, more so because of his little toe. God Bless you and Tony as you make this decision. I know you'll make the right one.

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  3. Simeon has 2 toes that are webbed on his right foot....pretty cute...hopefully he won't mind when he gets older. I understand about the "this is the way God made him" stuff, believe me....but if it will effect his walking and comfort as he grows, then, I would do it. We live in the times where it is medically possible to do something like that, which is a blessing. I have heard of it quite often. I had a little boy in my daycare and his name was Joseph, so his lovingly called him "sixth toe Joe" but they did remove it. (another thought is that that 6th toe is adorable right now, might not be so adorable when he is all grown up) (haha, just kidding)

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  4. I think the last 2 toes ran "wee wee" together "all the way home"!

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  5. Same thing happened to my little brother. My parents opted to have it removed (when he was slightly over a year old) because his foot was so wide he would have needed custom-built shoes.

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  6. Aw, it is a darling extra toe. But if I grew up with the burden of shoes not fitting or extra expensive shoes being needed I don't think I would be glad God gave it to me. Many babies have surgeries to fix "God's little gifts" and I don't see that that makes mom and dad less thankful for God's perfect gift of life (just look at circumcisions). Whether you "keep it" or not is certainly a decision to be made prayerfully but you shouldn't feel guilty for either one.

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  7. I had to add - I just showed the picture to my boys and they all universally proclaimed it "AWESOME"!. So there you go.

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    Replies
    1. Jack was at the beach with my parents when Peter was born. When we told them about the toe, he got so excited. He thought it was cool and requested a picture to prove we weren't making it up!

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    2. Boys universally love anything remotely out of the ordinary!

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  8. Jenny,
    I think it is awesome that you shared this with everyone. I hated keeping Peter's uniqueness quiet. When decision time comes, you and Tony will do what you think best for Peter...and I am sure God will back you up on it.

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  9. A sweet little baby at our church has two thumbs. Surgery scheduled in a few more months. I guess the "real" thumb is getting weaker and the extra thumb is getting stronger and they want to prevent it. Little extras mean they are special babies, bringing something more to the world. I love your post!

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  10. How cute!! Aww.. I love his little toes. If he were my kid, I'd leave it. He can probably wear soft shoes until he's 2 or so, or even bigger, and those shouldn't hurt as much as the ones from the store. I think it is special.

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  11. I still have a 6th webbed toe on my right foot and I must tell you that it has conditioned my life a lot. I wish my parents had taken care of it when I was a baby.

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