Today at 5 Minutes for Books and at Snapshot, Jennifer went back eight years to the day she discovered her first-born was not perfect. It got me thinking about my own babies’ imperfections.

I think for us as moms our babies are perfect to us, and then when someone else says they have a defect, it breaks our hearts. Because to us they’re perfect, but here’s some doctor telling us they’re not. And it hurts. Almost like we’re middle school children on a playground and the mean kid is teasing our little sister.

At Sophia’s 8 month check-up, the doctor punched me in the stomach when he told me my precious baby girl had a BIG HEAD. And not just a little big — 99th percentile big.

I heard that mean doctor say my perfect little baby had a disproportionally big head and a tiny 5th percentile body.

Her head is too big and her weight has dropped to the 5th percentile. Something might be seriously wrong, and I need to bring her back in a month. “But don’t worry.” He added, acknowledging that his suggestion was impossible for me to follow. “I know you’re going to worry… but you shouldn’t. She’s probably fine, but I can’t say for sure. You need to bring her back in a month and we’ll see.”

I left feeling sad.

I felt like a terrible mother because I was so convinced that my perfect little baby was healthy and growing wonderfully that I hadn’t brought her back for a check-up since she was 2 months. She’d been measured and weighed at her 6 month immunizations, and the nurses there hadn’t been concerned, so I’d been slack about getting to the doctor.

I felt stupid.

What kind of idiot mother doesn’t take her baby for regular check-ups? Neglectful ones like me, that’s who. Ones who are too busy working on their websites, and miss their daughters’ 4 month and 6 month appointments.

I felt scared.

What if something was really wrong? Most of me didn’t think it actually was something serious. She’s meeting milestones and acting like you’d expect an eight month baby. And besides her dad has a big head and was crazy thin all his life too.

But there’s that mean kid on the playground again running around saying my family has BIG HEADS!

We don’t want to hear it.

In our love, they are perfect.

As the newness of baby days turns to toddlerhood, I think it becomes easier for us to see them as little people who of course have strengths, weaknesses and — yes — some imperfections. But when they’re babies, so preciously fresh from heaven, we just want to believe they’re perfect.