Molting

Woah, the WIERDEST thing happened to me yesterday.

While I was making dinner, I decided to make a few batches of squash and sweet potato baby food (since "Multitask" is my middle name). So when dinner is ready, I wash my hands and sit down.

I look down at my hands, and it looks like there is squash film on the left one still, so I wash my hands again.

I start to eat, and notice that the film is still on my hand! Argh this is getting annoying. But I'm hungry so I am just going to eat anyway.

But then, my fingers started to "tighten", and the skin on my hand seemed to be shrinking, and I couldn't straighten my fingers! I noticed that the film on my hands wasn't squash film at all!

IT WAS PEELING SKIN!

It was disgusting! 4 of my fingers and part of the palm of my hand was molting like a snake! It looked like a burn, but I hadn't touched anything hot! The skin was peeling off so fast I could see it happen. I kept washing my hands and putting lotion on, but it didn't stop until an entirely new layer of skin was exposed (and quite sensitive, I might add).

I thought I was getting flesh eating disease!

So what happened? I googled "squash skin film" or something similar. To my surprise, I was flooded with photos of hands that looked like mine, and stories exactly like the one I've told you.

Turns out there's a condition called "Butternut Squash Dermatitis" or "Cucurbita Moschata" for the technical name. It's a contact dermatitis, or allergic reaction. That's so odd though, as I don't think I'm allergic to anything else!

Nathan has been playing with said squash for the past few days. He sits in his highchair and points excitedly toward the squash and whines until we give it to him (APPEASE THE BABY). Guess we'll have to stop that.

So here I am. A new season has begun recently, and I have molted to show a new layer of skin. Maybe this is a metaphor for things to come.

Or maybe I should wear a glove next time.