Poppy Ellen Storie was born April 7th. She arrived a little earlier than expected and a lot faster than anticipated - but all in all a great birth. The midwives called it beautiful - I'm not quite so convinced of that - more messy, suddenly painful and rather primal for a reserved British Lass - but no lasting damage to my knowledge and a beautiful little girl at the end! The little noisy boy is prooving to be an amazing big brother - with kisses, songs and gentle hugs. Now I just need him to stop jumping on the sofa during the feeds or trying to get her attention with drums and noise makers. I have been a good girl this time round and have stayed at home, rested wherever possible and not tried to dash about too much. Poppy has repaid me by sleeping and "hanging out" - with just a small, occasional fuss. After having a poor baby with colic for the first 10 months of his life - I am taking nothing for granted and can be found clutching random pieces of wood when telling people abt my experience this time round of having a baby. She really has been more "text book" so far than my poor first child. She can be soothed by the routine things when my first child always seemed so inconsolable. Please, please let this stay. To anyone out there currently coping with a colicky child - I am thinking of you! I still have vivid memories of the insanity and the utter feeling of failure as a mum (non of which of course is true). Any advice I would give for a child who seems so unhappy is to stop reading or listening to other people's advice - it probably won't work - they don't know your child like you do and there really isn't a magic cure no matter how hard you search. I am sorry to be the bearer of this bad news, but I found once I accepted the situation and stopped asking people for advice, manically reading all the books or wondering exactly where I was going wrong - I actually felt better. Baby Salsa, Stroller Fit, Mummy competitive coffee visits and all the other nonsense we think we should be doing first time round all went on hold while I rested and slept whenever the crying subsided. Instead of blaming yourself be nice to yourself - you are doing an amazing job dealing with a poor fussy baby and they WILL grow out of it to show you the wonderful human being they were trying to be all along - I promise!
1 comment:
What lovely children! And such good, GOOD advice! Sadly, though, something that people have to realize on their own only after all the advice, books and worry-- at least that was the way it was in my case!
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