Always the exception never the rule.

Since practically the day Olivia was born she has been the exception to every rule we've run into concerning baby things. It makes her different, I can see her strength and determination because of those things, but man does it make things hard sometimes.

Rule:
Most babies love being swaddled, in fact they need it to sleep.
Since around the day after Olivia was born she HATED being swaddled. She would scream and fight until she got out and then would calm down.

Rule:
Always lay your baby on their back to sleep.
Olivia absolutely will not sleep on her back. The first few weeks after she was born we had to sleep with her on us because if we laid her down she would just scream. Finally we figured out, the reason she would only sleep on us was because she needed to sleep on her stomach. To this day she still will only sleep on her stomach.

Rule:
Babies get fevers, it's no big deal it will subside in a few days.
At 6 weeks old Olivia had a fever. It did not go away after a few days. In fact after 6 days Tylenol didn't work keeping it down anymore, she got pale, and delusional. She was dehydrated from having a fever so long and it turned out she had a kidney infections caused by a birth defect called vesicoureteral reflux (vur; her urine back flows into her kidneys every time she pees). Which means everything she pees she is at risk for a kidney infection (which causes scarring and damage to her kidneys). We manage it with a low dose of antibiotics everyday so she's ok for now but not just a fever.

Rule:
Breast milk is best for babies.
True, but Olivia has a milk protein intolerance which means if I consume any dairy my milk causes her digestive tract to become inflamed and produce a ton of mucous causing her to throw up and almost choke on it because it's so thick. (gross I know)

Rule:
Most babies grow out of it by 9 months
Olivia is almost 9 months, she had a few Graham crackers last week and I later realized the very last ingredient was whey, it caused her to spit up a ton.

Rule:
Utah is dry, a lot of babies suffer from eczema, put lotion on 3 times a day and it won't be a problem.
Tried a ton of different lotions, and eczema creams none of them work. Found a cream that works and we use it after every diaper change, bath only a couple times a week, clean and free detergent, long sleeves and pants to limit carpet irritation, humidifier. Still she has eczema spots on her legs and forearms and her cheeks.

Rule:
Diaper rash cream heals diaper rashes
It literally burns Olivia's skin. Luckily she doesn't get rashes often but the only thing that works is cornstarch and coconut oil.

So that's all the negative, but here's the positive.

Rule:
It takes one nurse to hold down a baby while a doctor does a spinal tap.
It took three nurses to hold Olivia and still they couldn't hold her still enough to get a good enough sample. My girl is strong!

Rule:
Babies start crawling between 6 and 10 months
Olivia was crawling at 4 months, sitting at 5, and pulling herself up/walking while holding onto furniture and crawling up stairs at 6 months. Now at almost 9 months she can stand without holding anything, climb up and over John and I to get onto the couch, and slides backwards to get off the couch.
She is determined and independent.

Sometimes Olivia being the "exception to the rule" makes things hard. And I swear there is something new everyday. It makes life pretty interesting.