I don't know if it will reassure you to know about my HN baby. She wanted to run from birth. None of this lying down business. None of this being held back by physical limitations. She had to be upright at all times, moved around the room to look at things, would not roll, sit, crawl etc and didn't give up until she was standing up and moving at 7 months, she never, ever slept in the day, was up from 6am till at least 10pm without sleeping, fed at least 2 hourly for the first year, thought prams/carseats instruments of torture and just getting her to sleep in an evening, even for half an hour, took hours and hours of frustrated trying. I was on my knees, had ptsd and pnd after a horrific delivery with her and she was gaining weight ridiculously (26lbs at 26 weeks) on bm alone as I was just losing myself physically and mentally. Not once in a year did I manage to put her down without her screaming like we were killing her. Pick her up and she stopped immediately. She needed input 24/7.
She's 4 and a half now and oh my goodness is she brilliant. She is bright, funny, caring, beautiful, independent, sociable, able and straightforward. Today she's got up, made me a cup of orange juice and a bowl of cereal, made her own breakfast, got dressed and ready for school, written a note to her baby brother saying she loves him, brushed my hair and cuddled me before going off to school for the day singing. She is the loveliest child, asks for nothing, loving and wonderful. It was all so, so, so worth it. And somehow she sleeps 7pm till 7am without a peep. Actually, she wakes up, I hear her but she sings, cuddles her doll, rearranges her duvet, has a drink of water and a wee and then gets back in bed. She manages herself.
I've had ds recently and I was terrified. He's nowhere near as bad as dd. I think he's probably slightly high needs, feeds ridiculously (same weight gain as dd), will never lie down, does not like other people and despises the carseat/pushchair (though has to go in them due to the school run). But I'm managing better because I know that it won't last.
I just wish my mother would back off. She insists on holding ds, he screams because my mother wants to cuddle him lying down while he coos up at her and it just will not happen. So she hands him back, I calm him and return him to grandma and she puts him down declaring 'he has to learn'. He immediately starts with the red faced screaming. Having dd too there have been times where I've had to leave him occasionally and he will vomit through the stress of being left. My Mum will not have it. She's of the rod for your own back school. And her babies never cried apparently. Oddly, my Dad tells a different story.