Doctors Say the Darndest Things

Moms have a really tough job...but you probably already knew that. I've always known it too, but it has become glaringly apparent lately. There's a lot of things I remember from my childhood, the way my parents did things, the things I did, so forth and so on. But I seem to have forgotten a few things!

About 5 days ago, Boog was in the tub, and I was folding laundry {gasp!} in the living room. She calls for me to come in there. When I get in there, she says something that 1) made me want to pee in my pants, and 2) shocked me speechless.

"Mommy, my nipple hurts."

Dead silence from me, while I decide whether I'm going to pee in my pants laughing, or ask her to repeat herself because surely I have misunderstood her.

"Mommy, did you hear what I said?"

"Ummm....yea. But what do you mean it hurts?"

"There's a bump under it and it HURTS!"

"Okay baby, let me see."

At this point I am now looking her over trying to see if there is anything visible...nope. So I ask her if it itches, thinking maybe she has an insect bite or something. Nope. So basically, I just tell her to leave it alone and maybe it will go away. No such luck. Everyday since she has continued to tell me that it hurts. She then asks when I'm going to take her to the doctor. At this point, I notice it is slightly pinker than the other one. Great....what now?

I watch, I wait and I try my best to ignore that she has a knot under her, you know nipple. That just sounds so wrong.

Yesterday morning she was really begging me to call the doctor. I honest to God was doing my best to avoid this! I mean what do you say to the receptionist when she asks what the visit is for? "Ummm, well, you see my 6 year old daughter has a knot under her nipple?" I decide to call. But I'll be honest with y'all...I lied to the receptionist. Yep I did! I wanted to have her ears checked because she keeps saying "huh" all the time, so I just used that as my reason. I just couldn't bring myself to say the other. It just sounds so ridiculous.

When the doctor walked in this afternoon and asked what the visit was about, I told him about her ears, and then the other thing. He immediately smiles and starts to laugh! Great, he thinks I'm crazy! He takes a quick look and then continues to laugh! I am mortified. I can never show my face here again. Then he said the darndest thing..."we see this all the time". Huh? Not what I was expecting to hear! He then proceeds to tell me that she has a breast bud. Yea, that's right, a breast bud. Now this is definitely not something that I remember from my childhood. "This is completely normal for her age"...what? What rock do I live under that I have never heard of this? He explained it all to me, and told me not to worry that she shouldn't get any "boobs" for years to come. It's just her little body getting started. I think he gave me a mini heart attack.



But now I want to know, from all of you, if any of you have experienced this as moms. She's 6 for goodness sakes! Have any of you moms gone through this with your daughters? Do you remember going through this yourself?