Mommy Talk 1

I just joined Mommy Talk and this will be my first post on that Meme.

Mommy Talk Question for June 11th - What was it like going home from the hospital for you? Did your baby have any medical issues?

My oldest son, B, was born with an emergency C-section and was very, very sick. He suffered from asphyxia before, during and after birth so they almost declared him dead. He suffered from very severe meconium aspiration syndrome (he had heart issues, his lungs collapsed, he had bleedings and neumonia in both lungs, his liver didn't work too well, he had a strong infection and his body retained too much liquid). To make a very long story short he was put on ECMO for 3 days and then had to stay in the hospital for another 2 months. Coming home with him, 2½ months after giving birth was very scary. He was still a very sick baby, who needed medication day and night, who had respiratory failures all the time and was too weak to nurse, so we had to give him formula. Well, he didn't gain any weight because he had been on the g-tube for over 2 months and didn't understand what hunger was, so he refused to eat! We had to bend his mouth open and make him take the formula. That was really, really HORRIBLE and I still cry when I think about it. My poor baby! After 3 months of bottle feeding I managed to make him breastfeed instead and then finally, he started gaining some weight. But he has always been a very, very skinny and small child. So coming home with him was not an easy thing and I think I missed his first years due to all his medical issues.

2 years later I had G by planned C-section. He was a healthy, chubby baby who was always hungry and started nursing in the operation room! Isn't it funny how different brothers can be? I spent 3 days in the hospital with G so I would recover from the C-section. Coming home with him was so different because finally I had a healthy baby and that was something new to me. Unfortunately he started developing food allergies so within a week I had a baby who cried all the time, never slept and had a constant tummy ache. I had to change my food and for over a month I only had pasta, with no sauce, no meat, fish, vegetables or milk... Just plain boiled pasta. And then our journey through the food allergies began.

So to me, becoming a mommy has not been easy. Both my boys are/were special needs and although they are both ok now there still are some issues that need extra attention. More about that another time.