Sunday, August 19, 2012

Firsties

Today was a day of firsts... but not necessarily the good kind of firsts. More like neutral firsts. Or the kind of firsts that every parent experiences at some point. Firsts firsts firsts.

It started with diaper rash. Yep. My baby's bum is rashy for the first time ever. See what I mean about the kind of firsts we're talking about here?

The second first was a good one. Second first? I didn't know those two words could go together and be coherent... anyways, she finally nursed and didn't need a bottle afterward! Woohoo! Although I think it's just because she was way too tired to eat, but regardless, we're making some big strides with the nursing! She refused to nurse in the afternoon and only took 10mL from her bottle. She had a very fussy morning and spent about two hours snuggled on her daddy's chest because she wouldn't settle down any other way and this mommy was napping. What a good hubby/daddy :) Hubby woke me up to let me know that she was stirring and probably ready to eat, but this is when she refused to nurse and only took a smidge from her bottle. She was exhausted. I woke her up a few hours later as it had been five hours since she had actually had a real feed and I figured she was starving but was too tired to realize it. She ended up nursing for about 20 minutes total and then passed the heck out. I was so proud of her though! About two hours later, she was hungry again and nursed for about 20 minutes total again, then daddy gave her a bottle. She stayed awake, so we let her explore her playmat, have a little underwhelming tummy time, and then gave her a bath. I held her for a while afterward and she fell asleep in my arms. Of course she slept soundly until just before I was going to put her in bed, at which time she started fussing. So I nursed her again and she nursed well, but then had me running into the kitchen on two separate occasions to make up bottles for her. There was about 1oz of milk in the fridge, so I gave that to her, thinking that she wouldn't take much because she had seemed to nurse so well. Wrong. So I had to put her down and go back into the kitchen to get another bottle ready and offered her a little less than 2oz this time, and she eagerly took all of it. She even looked like she wanted more and was flailing around. In desperation, I offered her the last few drops that were in the bottle and for some unknown reason this actually satisfied her and she calmed down. Once again, she slept soundly until after I put her in bed. While I was making her second bottle, she got herself all worked up (even let out a few cries!) and spit up all over the left side of her onesie. It was drenched, but she was so hungry that I figured it would be counterproductive to change her since she would likely spit up even more and get even hungrier. So I had to end up putting her in bed with a wet onesie like a totally awful parent. lol ;)

This is where things get interesting and messy. She kept on fussing, so I gave her some of her Colic Calm. The stuff occasionally works wonders but has charcoal in it so it stains everything black. With the help of a Numimed- a pacifier that administers meds (genius!)- we've gotten to the point where it doesn't get all over everything within a six-foot radius of her mouth. So I gave it to her and resumed my bottle washing endeavors, at which point she spit up even more. Despite being fussy, she was mostly asleep so I debated about whether or not to change her outfit and get her out of her wet onesie. Then I smelled the diaper. My mind was made up- she had to get changed.

So then came the third first- I changed her poopy diaper and as I was getting her new outfit on, I smelled that telltale smell again. Yep, she pooped. Again. That's not the first time that's happened to me though... I gave her a few minutes to finish, then popped open the diaper and started to change her but... she wasn't done. And the only thing I had to use as a barrier was a wipe and thank God it did the trick or I'd be in the shower right now. So for the first time, she pooped while I was changing her. I'm sure it'll happen many more times before she's out of diapers. When do kids get potty trained again? 2 years old? Hmmm... we may just start trying around... I don't know... 9 months. lol.

She's had two bradys in the last 24 hours. Not bad! It's definitely progress. Now that the pediatrician suggested that her bradys are from her reflux, it makes so much more sense. I'm certain that's what it is. I don't think it makes me feel any better, though, because I had originally hoped that she would grow out of it. She'll eventually grow out of the reflux, but not as quickly as if she was just brady-ing because of suck/swallow/breathe coordination issues.

Her second brady was around 10:30 tonight, after hubby went to bed. He has to go back to work tomorrow :( He's stressed out about going back and about leaving me to care for the baby by myself all day, and of course her alarm has to go off two separate times when he's trying to settle down and get some rest before tomorrow. Ugh. That definitely didn't help his stress level. And I go back to work on Tuesday... yippee. Don't get me wrong- I love my job. But it's just not a good time to worry about work because Emma is still sick and she's only been home for two and a half weeks. At least I have one day of hubby working and me being at home without having to work. So I have one whole day to get used to taking care of her by myself before I also have to work. Woohoo! And it seems like tonight will be very restless since Emma is a little extra fussy. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, right?

Jeez. I had planned on taking nine weeks off from work after she was born so I could focus on taking care of her until she was big enough to leave with a sitter. I need to stop planning for things- it never works out how I plan. At least not when it comes to stuff like this! So does anyone want to donate to the "help Kelly not have to work" fund? lol. Why can't I just be independently wealthy?!

I stated to question why I'm even blogging all of this nonsense... but I went back and read some of the old NICU posts and I remembered why. These are some once-in-a-lifetime moments and experiences that are passing by so quickly. It's really interesting to read back through everything and see how far we've come and remember how much better things are now than they had been. And I'm sure plenty of my readers who are experienced parents are having plenty of "ah, I remember those days!" moments as they're reading about my tales of poopy diapers and bathtime fun :)

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