Our two children could not be any more different from each other. It's like black and white!
Both, however, have taught me LOTS about illness and injury. Thankfully I have not had to take either one to the ER yet, and I pray I never will.
When Talmage was born, he had a clogged tear duct and severe eczema. He later grew into chronic ear infections and had to go into surgery to have tubes. None very serious things, but enough to scare this first time momma.
Charlotte so far has had jaundice, colic, and acid reflux. And oh yeah,
Thank goodness for pediatricians!
Just a few other differences...
Talmage was so chill as a baby- he loved his swing and watching the people around him do their thing.
Charlotte never wants to be put down. She will tolerate the swing and bouncer only if she is ready to sleep. She insists on being held, which I now know is associated with her reflux.
Our son was a chunk at birth, and continued to rapidly gain weight over the first few months, coming in at the 90th percentile for weight at almost every appointment. He never lost any birth weight.
Charlotte was a bit smaller, and lost birth weight right away. She has not even gained an entire pound in the last month. Everyone tells me how small she is...which kind of annoyed me for a while since it was something that concerned me (also due to reflux), but now I have come to grips with it.
Charlotte loves being swaddled and Talmage LOATHED it.
Talmage's hunger cues could be heard a mile away. He always let me know when he wanted to eat and when he was full. He was a champion eater, and would drain me completely each time. He ate LOUDLY (yum yum noises) and NEVER spit up. It was difficult to breastfeed him. I had to use a nipple shield and had recurring mastitis (among other things) in the 6 months I nursed him before switching to formula. Each case of mastitis was extremely painful and I would get a high fever. I took so many antibiotics it was making me sick.
Charlotte barely whimpers when she's hungry, likes to eat intermittently with lots of pauses, and never really shows that she is full. I worry if she's even getting enough. Her tummy is so small that she only ever eats on one side. She spits up everything she eats about half the time. I just took her to get an xray and watched her reflux in action, so now she's on medication. However, she is very good about nursing and has never needed a shield. From the day she was born she has been awesome at latching properly and I was only in pain for a few weeks while I adjusted to nursing again. I have had mild mastitis twice so far and used home remedies to soothe the pain. I hope to continue nursing her for her first year, but we'll see.
However, there are some similarities too :)
Both love sleeping on their tummy, prefer MAM binkies to any other brand, have "small heads" (13th and 17th percentile!), love warm baths and car rides, fit so well in Costco diapers, love to snuggle with mom & dad, and are the two most beautiful babies I have ever laid eyes on. I could not ask for more perfect children, and yes BOTH will always be babies to me. Talmage is still my baby even though he's turning 2 in less than a month :]
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