I have heard people say many times how their children are completely different from one another. Chris and I would talk about this occassionally while I was pregnant and muse about which things might be different about our children. Having had only one kid at the time, it was difficult for us to think about ways that our other child might be like us but unlike Jayce. As far as Hannah goes, she has been different from the start, even before she was born.
We have spent the last 2 weeks getting to know this new member of our family, and are having a hard time not comparing the 2 children at this stage of their lives. Here are a few of the differences that are sticking out right now.
Jayce
Hannah
My pregnancy. A question I heard often when I was in the middle of the pre-term labor scares with Hannah was, "Did you have this problem with your first pregnancy?" to which I had to reply, "No, not at all!" My pregnancy with Jayce was much more uncomfortable in non-threatening ways (bad swelling, carpel tunnel, my hip would pop all the time, etc), but never anything that required a second glance from my doctor. With Hannah I was in the hospital and doctor's office multiple times a week for the last 2 months.
Sleeping. Jayce loved to be swaddled and laid on his side in a baby positioner. Hannah hates it. Both parts. She has some belly discomfort problems, so she prefers to sleep upright in a bouncy seat.
Jayce
Hannah
Crying. I honestly can think of only 1 or 2 nights when Jayce cried for a little bit (like 10 minutes) because something was bothering him. Hannah had a few nights with a few hours of screaming when we first brought her home. We were at a complete loss. Mylicon helped only for a minute, and we spent the next few days bleary eyed and googling symptoms of colic and acid reflux. Luckily this hasn't happened since and the doctor thinks it was just gas. But at the time we felt like our experience of parenting Jayce was completely useless, since he had only needed the magical Mylicon to drift quickly back to sleep.
Nursing. Jayce learned this skill pretty quickly, and after the first week gave us a 3 and 4 hour stretch of sleep overnight every night. Hannah is still getting the hang of it. Which means that some nights she'll go 3 1/2 to 4 hours between feedings, but sometimes she wants more after 2 hours. We are still figuring it all out.
The pacifier. Jayce took his when he was 2 days old, on the way home from the hospital. Hannah has taken hers several times, but never seems to be interested in it when we want her to be, like at night. She gags on it and spits it back out. She prefers to chew on her fist instead, as evidenced by the little bite marks on her knuckles.
Jayce
Hannah
There are a few things that are the same about these 2 as well.
They both got quickly back to their birth weight. Jayce did by his 1 week check up, and she did by the day after. She lost a little weight after she left the hospital, so she caught up in a hurry.
Neither had their days and nights mixed up, thank goodness!
Jayce
Hannah
Both babies were roughly the same size at birth, him 8lb 1oz, and her 7lb 11oz, both 20 1/2 inches long. But she is more petite than he was. She has long slender fingers and dainty little hands. Her face is more round (where Jayce's was more long), with a tiny round head and tiny ears. She has a long torso but slightly shorter legs than Jayce.
She is so sweet. Aside from that night crying that sent us into a frenzy, she is a relatively calm and happy baby. Her awake times during the day are getting longer and she just stares at us and around the room, peacefully taking it all in.
Jayce
Hannah
Of course there are several things that are just "her" as well.
Whenever she eats she balls her hands into little fists and presses them against her cheeks. She does this whether she is nursing or drinking from a bottle, and I can't resist kissing her little hands and tucking one of my fingers into her fists. When she is getting full, she will lean back, reach one arm up over her head and grab at the hair on top of her head. It's so cute.
She has stayed in her newborn clothes into her 3rd week, where Jayce was out of them all by day 10.
Hannah squeaks and grunts a LOT. Jayce used to do this when he was waking up in the middle of the night and needed to be fed, but Hannah does it a lot more. It is sweet during the day, but at night it's stressful because we constantly feel like she is about to wake up, so we can't sleep. It does prompt us to burst into song pretty often though, and sing, "She's a very squeaky giiiirl..." to the tune of Superfreak. We didn't do that with Jayce at all.
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