I've heard this a lot the last six weeks and here is why. Coming home from the hospital with our cute little man Gage I ran into some problems I did not expect - I became a cry baby - no really I did. I have never been one of much emotion, at least showing of emotion, and this was unexpected to say the least. When I brought Lyla home - there was none of this we just all fit together and everything was great. Gage was a whole different story. I can try to blame it on the fact that I was more emotional while pregnant with him, or that when in the hospital he could only be with me for feedings and then had to go to the nursery to be under lights for his billruben - this caused a lot tears. But really I can't because when we got him home healthy - I cried more. This all came to a head when I went to a Dr's appt. about 5 days post partum (to have my staples from my c-section removed) and I cried the entire appt. - seriously the whole time. But coming home from the hospital wasn't exactly going smooth. Saturday when we got home I was on a "baby high" and we had lots of company seeing the new addition, and of course none stay overnight to help you - so I was up with Gage most of the night. Sunday I wanted out of the house from some odd reason and said "let's go to Wal-Mart" - umm that was stupid. I had to convince Bill first that I was feeling great (c-section!), but when walking into Wal-Mart I regretted this, I hurt the entire trip. I was also bummed that my pre-pregnancy pants wouldn't do up (yes I know I only had a baby 4 days ago). We get home I admit I hurt and want to rest. Doesn't happen just lay down, and more visitors, and then had to go to a dinner. Long day that of course turned into a long night. The next day the same, but instead of Walmart I cleaned the house. Have a mentioned that I cried at least 4 times these days? Anyway Tuesday I'm exhausted I have to get Lyla to preschool - try and get myself presentable for the dr (why who knows) and decide if Gage is staying home with dad or going with me - he stayed home with dad. So Dr's appt, the poor student who is working on becoming a Dr asks "How are you feeling?" Ha there went the tears and they didn't stop. So the Dr Student, Nurse, and actual Dr all ask me "Do you have thoughts of harming yourself or your child?" NO I DON'T!! So, I walk away from the appt with some happy pills that are new and samples and I'm supposed to take with dinner - really I just need sleep! So, mention to Bill that I was given happy pills and he is totally for this because my showing of emotions is freak'n him out - really it freaks me out too. Even my mom was like "You cry?" Ha - any who didn't take the pills because we worked out a routine/schedule, I got some sleep and tada - NO MORE CRYING! Hooray, but now I do understand the weepiness or post pardom depression that happens for some - you're troopers for dealing with this! Oh and my pre-pregnancy jeans fit by Thursday (7 days from having him - feel free to hate me).
Second problem, did you know babies get gas? Painful gas? I had no idea! I didn't know this happened - Lyla was just content with eating would spit up some, but never had the gas issue. Gage oh boy does he have the gas issue. It appeared literally on the exact day he was 3 weeks old (this is normal) - it was Thanksgiving evening and I couldn't get him calmed down for 2hrs, it was awful. This continued to happen for a few days so I started googling and finding everything I could about gas for babies and what to do. It's normal for it to show up around 3 or 4 weeks and not go away until 3 or 4 months old - not waiting that long! I changed his formula (Enfamil to Good Start), I changed his bottles (MAM to Playtex drop-ins - which side note work wonderful but I hate having to buy dropins not good for the environment or my pocket book), I started using Gripe Water and gas drops, I did the bicycle things with his legs, letting him lay on his stomach more, swaddling tight, and of course loving him lots. This stuff worked but we still had some issues. Then a miracle in a bottle came to the door (after I ordered it) called Colic Calm. This has been awesome, as soon as he is acting gassy have some colic calm and he is calm. It wasn't just this stuff that worked it was everything else with it. I now have a happy baby who is smiling, cooing, and laughing - instead of all of that crying. He still has his fussy/gassy times (usually when it's bed time - he may be doing it on purpose - ha), but we get through them so much faster now. Oh main point of this it isn't all gas it's a thing called silent reflux (per the dr who said I was already doing everything I should - yup that's a gold star on my shirt). Since we are able to treat it naturally at home we aren't doing meds, but if for some reason it gets worse we have a backup. Hooray.
So, my point of all of this is? When you think you know everything it means you know nothing.
It's crazy how every baby is different! I learned something new with each kid....infact I felt like a new inexperienced mom each time.
ReplyDeleteI think that sleep deprivation can feel like a form of depression. All we need is freaking sleep people! Glad you got a schedule and figured your lil' guys gas issues out! You are such a good mommy!
Oh jen!! That's so rough - I didn't have the weepies with chase.. just sydney - I was A MESS!
ReplyDeleteGage sounds a lot like chase, except he had silent reflux since he was born. We started sleeping him inclined a bit (proped his matress up with a small blanket roll at one end) and even started tummy sleeping - which really helped the most - People can throw the "SIDS" at me, but I did my research, and there's not much evidence that tummy sleeping contributes to it as much as people say it does. ANYWAY... yeah I can feel your pain - we ended up switching to Good Start as well - really liked it better than breast milk even! It gets better - that's what I had to keep reminding myself!