BALD WHEN I WAS BORN...TO BALD I MAY RETURN

My mom was having a lot of trouble with her health before I was born. She went to the doctor. She asked to see him. He was not in, but his partner and partner's nurse were there. She was only about seven months along, which meant that my lungs were not fully formed. When a baby is seven months, twenty-eight weeks in development, they may look like they are ready, but it can put them at risk to be born then.

Her back was hurting, but she was not in labor. The nurse came into the room and gave her a shot. My mom asked, "What's that?"

"Pitocin," was the answer.

My mother said, "That's going to put me in labor!"

The nurse stupidly assented, not even noticing that she had said 'put me in labor' rather than 'make my labor go faster'. So in a very short time, I was on the way to being born. My mom asked, "Where is my doctor?"

The nurse stupidly said, "Dr......is in his office."

My mom said, "I told you I was here to see Dr...........He's my doctor. Where is he?"

To make this long story short, he arrived just as I was being born and delivered me.  I was completely bald. Not only my lungs, but my hair needed more development.

For several weeks, it was touch and go with me because of my lung and breathing problems. There are pictures of me. They don't show my lungs, but they do show a lack of hair. When it finally came in, it was pure white. A silvery white. Later on, it turned blond. A real, very blond blond.

Some years later, because of my Scot-Irish ancestors, it began to have many shades of red mixed in until it was mostly red. A new copper penny color. I loved my hair. It was great. All of my life my hair has been baby fine. Each strand is so tiny, you can't see one hair alone, but I loved it. I've had several hairdressers say that it is 'baby hair'. It never stayed combed for more than a few minutes. Like a baby's.

I have gained weight since I was born. After all, I only weighed seven and a half pounds that day. I have gained weight and lost hair. Thanks to age and Lupus, my hair has been leaving me for other pastures. Some of my hair is still very red, so red it can look black. Some is blond. And some has returned to silver. Some, but not all. Not yet. It is all still baby fine and never looks combed. Like a baby's hair.

I used to color it, not to color it so much as to make there seem to be more of it. The color thickens my hair shafts.  When you have fewer individual hairs, they need to be a little bigger to cover the scalp. But with Lupus, I am not supposed to color my hair. So, here I am with my silver,blond, red baby-fine hair falling out. It's leaving my head, but clings to everything else. If it keeps falling out,  I may become bald.

Does that mean I will go back to weighing only seven and a half pounds?