In a new game called "Man vs. Baby", there were three adult contestants and one baby last night. BABY WON. OMG, how can any one person cry so much??!?!? She started crying at midnight and continued through the day today. Thank God for friends and family who are helpful and willing to take turns with her. The worst part is not the lack of sleep, but that she looks so sad, in pain, and helpless. I would give anything to make her happy, but it is a seemingly impossible task.
After I feed her, she has a few minutes of happy time, followed by hours of off-and-on screaming with her little legs and arms flailing about and her eyes wide and pleading. I can't wait for our Monday morning doctor's appointment. That doctor will certainly be getting an earful.
It was noon before Eric, Tara, and I gave up and came downstairs. Tara had been with her for a while, as she'd taken Renita's place for the weekend. Katie and Renita came over to offer support and reinforcement. I don't know how parents with a limited support group handle this!
Today was spent mostly recovering from last night. Lily slept a lot. A lot of times, she sleeps in our arms, but today we put her down for most of the day. We knew she was tired and wanted to give her a chance to sleep alone without us. It was very successful as she slept for most of the day without any interference from us whatsoever. I had planned to take her outside for the first time today and walk her around the porches and the yard. Ah well, there's always tomorrow. In the meantime, Eric had a very productive day working to create our garden. (Here's Daddy extracting a huge aloe plant)
Lindsay visited us today. She brought us a king cake, thanks for that!
Lily didn't stay away long enough for Nanny and Tara exercise time. Again, maybe tomorrow.
She did get a bath today though. She has some dry places on her skin around the top of her diaper. I wanted to lotion her up really well, but needed to get her clean first. Again, not so super impressed by the whole bath thing. Maybe when she can have an actual tub bath. Her umbilical stump looks very close to falling off. It's pretty wiggly and unconnected in places. It's not as gross as I thought that it would be, but it's no treasure either ;)
I should mention that this baby LOVES her arms! If I swaddle them, she masterfully removes them one at a time and waves them all about.
I know you're going to get lots of "helpful" advice, but if I can offer one piece. It sounds to me like Lily may have gas. What was really effective with us was laying the baby on their back on your lap then bicycling the legs to kind of loosen the gas bubbles. Then you gently push the baby's feet so that her knees put gentle pressure on her belly. Hopefully she will then, uh, let the gas loose. We used to call this "Farting the baby". It was quite effective for us.
ReplyDeleteHope you guys have a better night tonight.
LOL - what a great name! I definitely think that it is gas. She screams and screams, lets out a BIG JUICY one and settles down again until the next gas bubble erupts. I will most certainly try the bicycle with her tonight. I just can't understand why it happens more at night than during the day. And if one more "helpful" person tells me to just put her in bed and close the door, I might cause them harm! How could I do that when she is clearly in pain?!!?!?
ReplyDeleteThanks for the advice. I will try it!!!!