As one of the newbies, I have really loved reading all of these stories. Here's mine...
My dh and I had been married for almost two years to the day and decided to ttc. We got pregnant the first month and I must have read every baby book on the planet. My pregnancy was uneventful and I didn't mind it much. I gained more than I probably should have and enjoyed every bite! I took lots of naps and waited for our beautiful baby to be born.
I was 12 days overdue so they decided to induce me on a Thursday night, hoping we'd have a baby before the weekend. My labor hurt a lot more than I thought it would and I didn't get my epidural until I was almost 8 cm. When it became time to push, I discovered that I totally sucked at it. My epidural had run out and they decided not to replenish it so I would be able to push more effectively. After 2 hours of pushing I yelled at the doctor to please help me out and do something so I could deliver the baby. They used the suction and it was my husband who was the one to tell me it was a boy (which is what I had been secretly hoping for). We looked like a hallmark card for about 15 minutes until the doctor informed me they couldn't stop my bleeding and I was headed for the operating room. They gave me a shot in my thigh and people started moving quickly around the room. They made my husband leave but we had already talked about what he should do if anything happened and he knew he was supposed to just stay with the baby and not worry about me (of course this is really easy to discuss when you don't think there's any chance of it actually happening). All of a sudden the doctor yelled that my uterus clamped and I didn't have to be operated on. To this day it still doesn't really phase me because it all happened so fast. My husband was frantic but they went and found him in the nursery where Matthew was getting his first bath and he was so relieved.
Matthew nursed pretty well and I was just so happy to have a healthy baby. Lots of our visitors commented on how alert our baby was and that he sure seemed to be mellow, hah! He started crying on his 3rd day of life and didn't really ever stop until 4.5 months. He nursed constantly, I could never put him down, and believe it or not, I thought this was normal. At first we thought he had colic and were so happy to hear that it would probably go away by 3 months at the latest. At 4 months we were starting to wear down and I remember thinking, just let me get through the grocery store or Target without a huge screaming episode. At 4 months we discovered he was allergic to milk so I had to remove all dairy from my diet. After about 48 hours, he stopped crying!!!! Yay, we figured it out and now our baby will lay on a blanket and shake a rattle and just look cute. Didn't happen. Matthew was fine as long as he was being held or entertained and he also did well in the exersaucer. He took all his naps on me for the first 5 months of his life but did start sleeping well at night at 5-6 months. We went on to discover, through formal allergy testing, that he was allergic to eggs, rice, oats, beef, cats, and of course milk. When I think about what that poor little boy went through in the early months I could just about cry. Thankfully, we have the allergy thing figured out and as long as he doesn't eat anything he's not supposed to, he doesn't get sick anymore.
He never crawled (I'm convinced it's because you could not put this child down and he didn't spend much time on his belly or on the floor at all for that matter). He started cruising the furniture at 7 months and started walking at 8 months and 2 days old. People told me I would hate it but it was the best thing that ever happened to us. Matthew loved exploring as his curiousity was boundless. Months 8-12 were pretty good and I could actually get some things done around the house while he played with his toys. Unfortunately, months 13 through the present (14.5) have really sucked. Though I love my little guy to death, I am anxiously awaiting the 18 month mark as it sounds like things might improve as he gets a little older. He is still in the phase where he wants my finger all day long so he can pull me around pointing at things for me to identify. He has stopped playing with most of his toys and seems to prefer looking at all our light fixtures, the vacuum, the fish screen saver on the computer, etc.....it's exhausting but it will pass. My husband and I joke constantly that we hope he's really, really smart so that we can explain away all this behavior that seems so exhausting and annoying now. Am I glad I'm a parent? Absolutely. Did I think it would be like this? Hell no. Would I change it for the world? No way :)
Tracey and Matthew 7/16/99