Flying Solo
Today was my first full day alone with the three girls, as DH went back to work on his normal schedule. All in all, it went pretty well.
Baby E has been very fussy in the evenings and wanted to nurse almost every hour all night, so I haven't gotten much rest the last couple of nights. But I was functional enough to get up and fix breakfast for the girls.
I decided that a large breakfast might be a good way to stave off the late-morning grouchies the girls have been getting. It seemed to work. We all enjoyed scrambled eggs, toast and cantaloupe. Even I feel so much better with a good breakfast, and having protein seems to make a big difference. I'm going to have to come up with more ideas for protein-rich breakfasts.
When Baby E finally took a late morning nap, I let the girls watch a video and I napped too, with one ear aware of them. I'm really going to need to figure out a better solution than using the TV. But for today it was ok.
I even managed to take a shower, which felt like quite an accomplishment.
First, I got Baby E down for a nap. I was getting the girls set up in the playroom right across the hall from the bathroom when it became apparent that M had neglected to tell me about an earlier potty accident. Her shorts were soaked and there was a huge puddle on the bathroom stool and floor, and tracked across the bathroom. But at least most of the mess seemed to be on the linoleum. I cleaned the toilet, sink and counter while I was at it--certainly didn't intend to accomplish all that today!
By the time I finished getting M and the bathroom cleaned up, Baby E was awake. But the bathroom was clean.
I put E in the bouncy seat and let her watch the trees dance in the bathroom skylight while I took my shower and the girls played across the hall. It worked quite well--I could hear all three of them, and peeked out to do a visual check every minute or so. Baby E didn't even start fussing until I was getting dressed.
We had lunch and I even did a load of dishes before heading out to visit DH's office so his coworkers could see the baby. That was fun.
Baby E has been more difficult the last few days. Her eating and napping have been sporadic. The only times she really seems to sleep well are when she's being held or in the car. She is acting like her tummy is bothering her.
E wants to nurse constantly, but either eats a lot and then seems miserable for the next hour, or eats a small amount and is hungry again very soon. Often she wants to nurse and then ends up choking or gagging like she didn't really want milk to come out. Or she eats a lot and then still acts hungry but won't eat.
Her cries are the sharp cries of an infant in pain, mixed with groans and whole-body writhing and followed by more open-mouthed rooting. It's not the same set of symptoms the other two babies showed when they had reflux, but the effects--frustration, sleeplessness, and a miserable baby--are the same.
I feel like I've entered a time warp . . . I lose track of what time it is and how often she's nursing, but it seems like I'm doing little besides feeding her or trying to comfort her while she's fussing and writhing. I was barely able to put her down all day today--good thing I'm talented at using one hand to do most things.
It's worst at night. I'm trying to pay attention to what I'm eating and other variables to see if anything makes a difference, but haven't been able to pinpoint anything yet. Sometimes the infant gas drops help for a little while, but not much.
We did have about an hour's reprieve tonight when we finally decided to try giving her a pacifier (my finger was getting sore). She loved it and it helped us reach the goal of getting her to wait at least an hour between feedings.
Now that I've fed her again she's renewed her fussing. She has nursed and nursed, and she keeps dropping off to sleep and then waking up crying minutes later. Even holding her isn't helping. I might just let her fuss for a few minutes, except that it's so obvious she's really in pain.
I know she's getting plenty of milk, so I really don't know what's bothering her. It's so frustrating to run out of things to do for the baby and the one thing I can give her--and which she wants--only seems to be making her feel worse.
It looks like it will be another long night.
Baby E has been very fussy in the evenings and wanted to nurse almost every hour all night, so I haven't gotten much rest the last couple of nights. But I was functional enough to get up and fix breakfast for the girls.
I decided that a large breakfast might be a good way to stave off the late-morning grouchies the girls have been getting. It seemed to work. We all enjoyed scrambled eggs, toast and cantaloupe. Even I feel so much better with a good breakfast, and having protein seems to make a big difference. I'm going to have to come up with more ideas for protein-rich breakfasts.
When Baby E finally took a late morning nap, I let the girls watch a video and I napped too, with one ear aware of them. I'm really going to need to figure out a better solution than using the TV. But for today it was ok.
I even managed to take a shower, which felt like quite an accomplishment.
First, I got Baby E down for a nap. I was getting the girls set up in the playroom right across the hall from the bathroom when it became apparent that M had neglected to tell me about an earlier potty accident. Her shorts were soaked and there was a huge puddle on the bathroom stool and floor, and tracked across the bathroom. But at least most of the mess seemed to be on the linoleum. I cleaned the toilet, sink and counter while I was at it--certainly didn't intend to accomplish all that today!
By the time I finished getting M and the bathroom cleaned up, Baby E was awake. But the bathroom was clean.
I put E in the bouncy seat and let her watch the trees dance in the bathroom skylight while I took my shower and the girls played across the hall. It worked quite well--I could hear all three of them, and peeked out to do a visual check every minute or so. Baby E didn't even start fussing until I was getting dressed.
We had lunch and I even did a load of dishes before heading out to visit DH's office so his coworkers could see the baby. That was fun.
Baby E has been more difficult the last few days. Her eating and napping have been sporadic. The only times she really seems to sleep well are when she's being held or in the car. She is acting like her tummy is bothering her.
E wants to nurse constantly, but either eats a lot and then seems miserable for the next hour, or eats a small amount and is hungry again very soon. Often she wants to nurse and then ends up choking or gagging like she didn't really want milk to come out. Or she eats a lot and then still acts hungry but won't eat.
Her cries are the sharp cries of an infant in pain, mixed with groans and whole-body writhing and followed by more open-mouthed rooting. It's not the same set of symptoms the other two babies showed when they had reflux, but the effects--frustration, sleeplessness, and a miserable baby--are the same.
I feel like I've entered a time warp . . . I lose track of what time it is and how often she's nursing, but it seems like I'm doing little besides feeding her or trying to comfort her while she's fussing and writhing. I was barely able to put her down all day today--good thing I'm talented at using one hand to do most things.
It's worst at night. I'm trying to pay attention to what I'm eating and other variables to see if anything makes a difference, but haven't been able to pinpoint anything yet. Sometimes the infant gas drops help for a little while, but not much.
We did have about an hour's reprieve tonight when we finally decided to try giving her a pacifier (my finger was getting sore). She loved it and it helped us reach the goal of getting her to wait at least an hour between feedings.
Now that I've fed her again she's renewed her fussing. She has nursed and nursed, and she keeps dropping off to sleep and then waking up crying minutes later. Even holding her isn't helping. I might just let her fuss for a few minutes, except that it's so obvious she's really in pain.
I know she's getting plenty of milk, so I really don't know what's bothering her. It's so frustrating to run out of things to do for the baby and the one thing I can give her--and which she wants--only seems to be making her feel worse.
It looks like it will be another long night.
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Posted by purple_kangaroo at 11:38 PM[Permanent link]
4 Comments:
That time-warp thing is so rough. I hope you are able to get more sleep soon.
Wow! I am impressed with all you managed to do, both planned and unplanned. When I had my third I could barely walk across the room for the first few weeks!
Two questions:
1. When you burp her do you "pat, pat" or let her just sit still on your lap (put your hand under her chin to hold her head up.) The sit still method worked much better for Muffin Man, the pat, pat method seemed to make him more gassy, like a can of soda being shaken.
2. Do you let her burp for long enough? Sometimes we didn't give MM enough time to let that last belch out.
I'm completely impressed with how much you've gotten done, especially WITH a cranky infant.
Thanks, R2Ks. Last night was quite a bit better sleepwise.
Songbird, I actually feel so much better now at almost 2 weeks postpartum than I did the week I had the baby. After 6 weeks of prelabor this doesn't really seem to bad. Everything's relative, I suppose. :)
Liz, yes we've tried both ways. Sometimes she doesn't burp for 30 minutes or an hour after a feeding no matter what we try. Other times it seems to be more in the line of attempting to fill her diaper that's bothering her. I don't really know--but using a pacifier and gas drops does seem to be helping part of the time.
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