I should have written this post six weeks ago. But six and a half weeks ago, I was worried sick that Tiny still had no teeth and Karma decided to throat punch me. Now Tiny has SIX teeth and has spent the past six weeks looking like this -
Especially at 4 am. And the trouble with the baby not sleeping is that I'm not sleeping, which means the Giant Baby isn't getting as much attention as he'd like, which means he's acting out. Basically I had just gotten the kids into a decent routine, and now it's all gone to crap!
On top of which, when we moved, we inherited two outdoor cats. The cats gave our little dog fleas. And that's how we discovered that our dog is allergic to fleas! I have never even heard of that before! But she managed to scratch herself so badly that she got an infection and was a very unhappy, expensive doggie for a while there.
Our Giant Baby turned four last month. I can't believe he is so big already. But he wasn't always a Giant Baby, this is his story.
When the Giant Baby was born he was nine pounds, the midwives commented that he looked bigger than that, even his placenta was enormous, they told me.
After he was born, I got a bad infection. I don't remember anything about the first six weeks, but I do know that by the end of those six weeks, I was actually thinner than I had been before I got pregnant!
As I got better, two things stood out to me. One - he cried. All the time. Two - he threw up. A lot. All the time.
I mentioned it to our doctor. He laughed and told me all babies cry. All babies spit up. It looks like more than it is.
I mentioned it to the maternal health nurse. She laughed. All babies cry. All babies spit up. It looks like more than it is.
At first, even though I was dubious, I accepted what they said. And then the Giant Baby stopped gaining weight. Over five weeks he gained less weight than he should have been gaining each week!
I was going to see the health nurse every week, and she said the same thing she'd always said. When he stopped gaining weight, she said babies do that. Some weeks they gain a bunch of weight, some weeks they don't.
The Giant Husband called the maternal and child services help line and was told the same thing. They added that his age meant he was in the "Peak crying period" for babies and he'd cry less after about twelve weeks.
We were dismissed as hysterical first time parents, everywhere we turned.
And then at the Giant Baby's twelve week check up, he not only hadn't gained any weight, he'd stopped growing too. For the first time, the health nurse looked mildly concerned.
Completely by coincidence she saw him get a feed that day. Which wasn't particularly interesting. But it meant she got to see what happened after the feed. She was horrified by how much he threw up! She wanted to know why I hadn't mentioned it. She pointed out that he must be starving and must be crying a lot. Why hadn't I mentioned that!?
On the bright side we were already going straight from the nurse, back to the doctor. The nurse gave us a note for the doctor, and the Giant Baby actually did another vomit display for him. The doctor recommended trying the Giant Baby on formula, he clearly had reflux and possibly had a breast milk allergy. The doctor said formula was heavier, so harder to spit up, but it could also be mixed with a special thickener that would make it even harder to spit up.
We were never successful in getting him to drink formula with the thickener in it. But with the change to formula he gained over a kilogram in the next week! I made the nurse weigh him on two different scales, about a dozen times before I belived it! By the time he was six months old, he was bigger (in height and weight) than his sister is now at nine and a half months old!
But I still wonder how big he'd be now if that hadn't happened!
And off topic - I hate baby bottles! So much! This isn't "breast milk is better than formula" snobbery. Formula isn't bad for babies (unless you live in one of those places where it has ground melamine in it, then it's super bad!) But it is so inconvenient and inefficient! If you're breast feeding, it's two seconds to get a feed ready and that's all you have to do. Bottle feeding - ugh! I hate waiting forever for bottles to warm, especially when it's four am and freezing and the baby is screaming! I hate the whole washing them, sterilizing them, boiling water for them, scooping, scooping, scooping nonsense! It's a pain in the bum!
Just before he turned three, his hearing improved enough for him to start talking. And now he never stops talking. He says talking is his favourite thing and he can't stop because his heart makes him talk and he can't make his heart stop.
Even though there are times I wish it were socially acceptable to gag him (I wouldn't really), I love, love, love hearing his silly jokes and songs.
Since his baby sister joined us, he has grown up a LOT. He has learned to use the toilet, and dress himself, and get his own drinks and do so many more things that he always refused to do before. He still refuses to wipe his own nose though.
He has also decided that helping Mummy and "keeping after" his baby sister are both fun things to do.
Even though he has, more than occasional, fits of jealousy, he's fiercely protective of Tiny. If the Giant Husband has the baby and she cries, you can bet the Giant Baby will run into the room to shout "Don't you make my baby cry!"
And now that he's bigger, he's finally starting to like his daddy more. It used to be that he would say "Don't want you! Only want Mummy!" Now, sometimes he will even tell me to go away because he's playing with his dad.
I feel bad that there aren't more/better pictures for this post. But all his baby pictures are on a flash drive that I haven't unpacked yet and now that he's bigger, he either asks me not to take pictures or makes very silly faces.
I love my Giant Baby more than life. He changed everything and he needs me so completely. I swear he needs me more even now than his sister ever has or will. It's exhausting but very special too.
