Oh, gosh, this will be a tear-filled saga for me. My pregnancy was a nightmare. It started with constant miscarriage scares, E.R. trips, more ultrasounds than you can count, etc. About the time that settled down, then came my heart problems and just various other horrible medical problems, which unfortunately never went away after pregnancy. I was truly medically depressed, on medical leave, etc. I could tell Julia was spirited in the womb. At 37 weeks, she started flipping around, and she was big too. She'd be breech, then not breech, etc. Finally, her head was down, and after a long, difficult, and scary labor, in which the epidural didn't work, she came screaming into the world on 6/14/99 at 12:23 am, scoring 10 on both apgars.
She never really stopped screaming. I didn't know it was abnormal either at first. We have all these pictures of her in the hospital bright read, screaming at the top of her lungs - I thought that's what babies did. We failed at breastfeeding despite 12 weeks of trying and pumping, leading to more depression for me. I think she continually cried until about 9 months - it's all a blur really. We were going to the doctor non-stop just *knowing* she had to be ill to scream so much. She had reflux, and the treatment helped a little, she refused to eat sometimes for entire days - this starting at just 2 months of age. I cannot tell you the stress this caused us. We tried every formula invented. She still does this btw. Somewhere in the 9-12 month range, the constant crying turned more to constant whining with short periods of being content. We are now kind of entering the terrible twos with tantrums and just very strong-willedness. When I think of Julia's personality - first, I think she's just fiery - this is a trait I kind of like in alot of adults, so I think it will bode her well. But I think of her as an open wound - absolutely everything affects her and generally bothers her (sounds, smells, textures, looks, etc). She cannot block out anything and seemingly has an opinion about everything. For example, another child may be able to ignore the fact that mom got up and went to the bathroom, but this is a big issue with Julia - it's a trauma that she has to express. Another child may be able to block out the fact that a leaf blew by her, but this is a big deal to Julia. So we do our best to work around situations that bother her. Then to confuse us even more, every blue moon, she'll have one of those marvelous days where nothing bothers her. Our biggest issue right now with Julia is bedtime and just trying to find some way, any way, to get her calmed down to go to sleep. I have a wonderful dh that is an equal parent in every way, so I definitely count my blessings there. And Julia, this girl can light up a room - she is a joy when she's happy, and it should be interesting to watch her personality evolve.
Doreen and Julia 6/14/99