What is Syndactyly?

After Caleb was born, I held him for a brief moment, and then he was rushed to be evaluated after a rough delivery.  He was evaluated right next to my bed, by the pediatrician. When I was holding him, I didn’t have time to check and see if all fingers and toes were there. I assumed he had all of them, besides my other children were born with all of them! The pediatrician was checking to see if any of Caleb's bones were broken or fractured after the scary delivery. "No broken bones or fractures that I can see. This big guy is pretty lucky. Well look at this! His fingers are webbed!" said the pediatrician. That’s when I felt sick. My baby is not perfect?! My husband walked over to the bassinet where little Caleb was being cleaned off. And there again was the face that I never wanted to see again! I knew that just from his expression that the doctor was downplaying the "webbing". I finally got a good look at my son’s hands and fingers. I cried, and cried, and did some more crying. The next day I was starting to feel better about my sons "webbing''. I was still kind of scared to tell family and friends about his condition, and afraid of what they may say. I finally got the courage up to take a couple for pictures and show my parents Caleb's fingers. When Caleb was two days old, I began to accept it. I was proud of his fingers and I began to love them. I had wanted a perfect child, and I knew I had had one. He was mine, and he was perfect! I thanked God that he came out living and breathing. I also told God, that I was sorry for being so selfish. I took Him for granted, by expecting a perfect baby with all ten fingers and toes.  Caleb and God helped me realize that I did have the perfect baby! I loved Caleb for who he was, and I know that God did to. I was finally at peace. The doctors wanted some x-rays on Caleb's hands, and our pediatrician had already referred us to a hand specialist in Charleston, South Carolina. We all were on the ball about his fingers, and were ready to bring a little normalcy to his fingers as well... The earlier we get his fingers fixed, the better.  His pinky was starting to pull his ring finger and his middle finger, causing them to bow. This was happening on both hands.  We got the x-rays back and were also told that some of the bones in his fingers were fused to other bones.  Not good news. This meant Caleb was going to have a more painful surgery. This was also going to be more difficult for the plastic surgeon. We would do whatever it took for Caleb and his fingers. We finally have a name for his condition to, Syndactyly.  Syndactyly means “webbing of the fingers”.