It all began...

Lochie was born when I was 23.  He was my third child, all boys.  It was a difficult birth, and when the midwife put the squirming little screaming bundle into my arms, I waited for the moment when he would look up at me and stop crying, happy to be in his mothers arms.  I had that moment with his brothers.  When they were handed to me, the screams stopped and they looked up at me. Happy to have been brought into the world. 
Lochie, was another story.  He didn't stop screaming.  I looked helplessly at the midwife, who looked at my husband.  The only thing anyone could say was "wow, he certainly has great lungs because that is one loud scream".

Born only 3 days late, and weighing 7 pound 14 ounces, Lochie wasn't the cutest of babies.  He was very skinny.  The doctor put it down to the fact that I had been quite ill in the last two months of pregnancy and he had not put on the fat that babies usually do.  It was hard to really see what he looked like because it was so rare for him not to be crying at the top of his lungs.  Feeding was difficult because it was hard to try to force him to drink between screams.  But, the midwives weren't concerned and bundled me off home after one day. 

Before I had Lochie, I was loaded with confidence.  My first two children, Trent and Haydn were very good looking and had been extremely easy babies. They ate when they were supposed to, slept through the night.   I thought it was because I was an amazing mum and must have done everything right.  Wow, I found out pretty quick that perhaps I had been lucky with them.  Loc just didn't tow the same line.

After many attempts, I found that holding Lochie across my arm on his tummy seemed to settle him long enough to have a short sleep.  Unfortunately, I could only hold him in this position if I was standing.  If I sat, or tried to lay down with him, he would start up the screaming again.  After 6 weeks, I was a zombie. 

My family were happy to mind the other two boys but nobody would take Lochie, not even for an hour.  He was my screaming little bundle and I'm not sure I know how I managed to survive the year.  I knew he only screamed because he had colic but geez the noise was terrible.  I felt so sorry for my little Loc and bought and did anything that was suggested but nothing worked. 

Yes, it was a whole year before he stopped screaming.  He could never be left on the ground because his screams were so intense, so Bubby Loc never learned to crawl.  On his first birthday, his uncle came over the held his hands and made him walk.  From then, he was happy.  The doctors said that maybe walking straightened out his intestines and relieved the colic.  It doesn't really matter because I had a toddler with an angel face and disposition to match.

Lochie and I, it seemed, had overcome a huge obstacle.  We survived an entire year of colic.   Little did we know that the biggest obstacle was to come.