When we were deciding on the proper time to become parents, we knew going in that parenthood would be one thing after another. That's just the way it works. This has both positive and negative aspects. Your new baby is growing so quickly and learning new skills! Most recently this has led Gwen to attempt rolling over. She rolled over for the first time about a month ago. Then again a week later. But I think all of her early rolls were accidental, and her attempts to reproduce this action have been met with some frustration on her part. At this point, she knows that she needs to swing her leg over, but she can't figure out how to properly tuck her arm to get it out of the way so she can roll from back to front. Front to back is a whole other story. She hates tummy time. Detests is probably a better word. Within 30 seconds to 1 minute of being on her tummy she is fussing and within 2 minutes (on a good day) she is full out crying. She hasn't gotten to practice rolling from front to back very much. I thought that he hating being on her tummy would be motivation to roll off of it, but usually, she will just collapse into tears face first in the carpet.
Unfortunately, some of the things that occur one after another are not happy learning moments. When she was younger, I sometimes felt like I was failing as a parent. Somehow all of the other parents figured it out and were able to cope with their crying babies. I even had the thought at one point that even crack addict mother's were able to deal with their babies, but I was not. While we could argue the validity of that thought all day, it was a thought that I had and it wasn't really a productive way to think. When we finally figured out almost 3 weeks ago that Gwen had reflux and she got a prescription for Zantac, she seemed like a completely different baby. She went from sleeping 90 minutes at a time to sleeping consistently 4.5 hours at a time. She was only waking twice during the night.
After we put her on the Zantac, however, we faced some other struggles. The first was a minor struggle, but it kind of ruined an entire weekend. Gwen had been a decent car sleeper. She would generally stay awake for 60-75 minutes, and then she would fall asleep for about 30 minutes. I didn't worry about traveling with her in the car because she would get her naps in and would happily play with toys in between. But, suddenly, two weeks ago Thursday, she started to hate the car. She would cry when I put her in the car. The first trip was a short trip. I had to run some errands. She took a shorter nap than usual in the car, and woke up crying. That was different - she usually woke up happy. Two days later we had a showing for our house. This meant that I had to get her out of the house for over an hour. Instead of falling asleep, she cried for about an hour. Then she finally fell asleep and, even though the people were done looking at our house, I did laps around our neighborhood so she would get in at least a little nap (if I stop driving she wakes up. If I try to transfer her from the car to her crib she wakes up. She won't go back to sleep unless 90 minutes has elapsed). I took her on a short errand that afternoon, and even though we still had some time to spare before naptime, she melted down in the car. That evening, we had to drive to Keith's parent's house. That is about a 3 hour drive. I was hopeful that she would sleep. Instead, I picked Keith up from the hospital, we started driving, and within a half hour she was screaming. She screamed for about an hour before I figured out that I should turn the radio on to a station with static. This kept her asleep for 20 minutes before she was awake and screaming again. The trip home from Keith's parents the next day was similar, only with more crying. When we were almost home Keith said, "Maybe she isn't comfortable in her car seat anymore." At that moment it hit me: the only thing that changed on Thursday morning is that I removed the bottom part of her JJ Cole BundleMe blanket from her car seat. The BundleMe is a zip-on blanket that keeps you from dropping blankets onto the ground. I had removed the top part when it got warm in February, but I hadn't gotten around to removing the bottom part until 2 weeks ago. Apparently the bottom part provided enough padding to make her comfortable. I have since replaced it and she happily rides in the car again.
When we got home from that trip, Gwen was understandably exhausted. She was unable to sleep in the car, so when she kept on rubbing her eyes the next day, I thought she was just recovering from the trip. She was still rubbing her eyes within 5 minutes of waking from each and every nap the next day, so I figured that it might be time to figure out how to stretch out her sleep past 45 minute naps. I discovered, upon reading The No-Cry Nap Solution, that her 45 minute naps were insufficient. She was taking the edge off, waking up between sleep cycles, and then fatigue would hit soon after she woke up. That explained much of her residual irritability. I bought her a cradle swing, and did my best to provide 2 hour naps. She was napping so well, and was still only waking up 2-3 times a night even though we were putting her in the crib for the first part of the night. However, her longest sleep stretch had decreased to 3.5 hours.
This past weekend, Gwen had two get-togethers with her friend Payton. Unfortunately, Payton had a double ear infection and a runny nose. I wasn't too concerned for Gwen's health, however, as Payton had been on antibiotics for several days. Keith and I babysat Payton on Friday night, and Payton's daddy babysat Gwen on Saturday night while I threw Payton's mommy a bridal shower. Of course, the first thing Gwen did when we got to their apartment was to start licking all of Payton's toys on her exersaucer, where antibiotics would have no effect. I was still hopeful that Gwen would stay healthy.
This past Sunday was Mother's Day. Unfortunately, my first Mother's Day was not stellar. Gwen woke up from her nap at Payton's house at 7:30, and then did not go to bed until midnight. She was at a different place, so I didn't expect her to want to sleep. I was hoping that she would sleep in until 10 the next morning since she usually sleeps from around 7 or 8 until 6am. Instead, she slept from midnight to 6. I tried to put her down for a nap, and she had no interest in napping more than an hour. When we got home from church, she took short naps for the rest of the day. I thought it was because she wasn't used to Keith putting her down for naps, but I insisted that he do so because I needed a break. By Sunday night she was in full melt-down. I was trying to take a nap to salvage what I could from that evening, but I woke up every 15-20 minutes to a screaming baby. That night she only slept 1-2 hour stretches. This trend has continued every night since then. I took her to the doctor on Tuesday because she had been fussy in a pre-Zantac kind of way, leading me to believe she felt bad in some way. She didn't really show any signs or symptoms, but the triage nurse said that with that drastic a mood change I should bring her in. The doctor, of course, blamed my parenting (telling me I should let Gwen cry it out...if we weren't moving I would be breaking up with Gwen's doctor now) since Gwen didn't have a fever or a runny nose. But if I would have listened to her advice before, my baby would have been in pain from stomach acid burning her esophagus and I would have let her sit in a crib in misery by herself. Sure, she was still in misery in my arms, but at least she knew mommy was there for her. So I'm obviously not going to listen to her doctor and let her cry it out. Just because she is fed and changed does NOT mean that all of her needs are met.
Since her doctor's appointment, I have stuck with my instinct that something is wrong, but I no longer think it is a cold. She is stuffy, but her nose isn't leaking green snot. She is pooping more often than usual, but I wouldn't call it diarrhea. She doesn't seem to have a fever, but she seems to feel better when she takes Tylenol. I gave her a chilled teething ring earlier and she chewed on it lightly. Her gums aren't swollen, but she isn't really showing signs of a cold, and she is cranky like she doesn't feel good. I think that some teeth may make an appearance soon.
Either that, or I simply gave birth to a monster.
Unfortunately, some of the things that occur one after another are not happy learning moments. When she was younger, I sometimes felt like I was failing as a parent. Somehow all of the other parents figured it out and were able to cope with their crying babies. I even had the thought at one point that even crack addict mother's were able to deal with their babies, but I was not. While we could argue the validity of that thought all day, it was a thought that I had and it wasn't really a productive way to think. When we finally figured out almost 3 weeks ago that Gwen had reflux and she got a prescription for Zantac, she seemed like a completely different baby. She went from sleeping 90 minutes at a time to sleeping consistently 4.5 hours at a time. She was only waking twice during the night.
After we put her on the Zantac, however, we faced some other struggles. The first was a minor struggle, but it kind of ruined an entire weekend. Gwen had been a decent car sleeper. She would generally stay awake for 60-75 minutes, and then she would fall asleep for about 30 minutes. I didn't worry about traveling with her in the car because she would get her naps in and would happily play with toys in between. But, suddenly, two weeks ago Thursday, she started to hate the car. She would cry when I put her in the car. The first trip was a short trip. I had to run some errands. She took a shorter nap than usual in the car, and woke up crying. That was different - she usually woke up happy. Two days later we had a showing for our house. This meant that I had to get her out of the house for over an hour. Instead of falling asleep, she cried for about an hour. Then she finally fell asleep and, even though the people were done looking at our house, I did laps around our neighborhood so she would get in at least a little nap (if I stop driving she wakes up. If I try to transfer her from the car to her crib she wakes up. She won't go back to sleep unless 90 minutes has elapsed). I took her on a short errand that afternoon, and even though we still had some time to spare before naptime, she melted down in the car. That evening, we had to drive to Keith's parent's house. That is about a 3 hour drive. I was hopeful that she would sleep. Instead, I picked Keith up from the hospital, we started driving, and within a half hour she was screaming. She screamed for about an hour before I figured out that I should turn the radio on to a station with static. This kept her asleep for 20 minutes before she was awake and screaming again. The trip home from Keith's parents the next day was similar, only with more crying. When we were almost home Keith said, "Maybe she isn't comfortable in her car seat anymore." At that moment it hit me: the only thing that changed on Thursday morning is that I removed the bottom part of her JJ Cole BundleMe blanket from her car seat. The BundleMe is a zip-on blanket that keeps you from dropping blankets onto the ground. I had removed the top part when it got warm in February, but I hadn't gotten around to removing the bottom part until 2 weeks ago. Apparently the bottom part provided enough padding to make her comfortable. I have since replaced it and she happily rides in the car again.
When we got home from that trip, Gwen was understandably exhausted. She was unable to sleep in the car, so when she kept on rubbing her eyes the next day, I thought she was just recovering from the trip. She was still rubbing her eyes within 5 minutes of waking from each and every nap the next day, so I figured that it might be time to figure out how to stretch out her sleep past 45 minute naps. I discovered, upon reading The No-Cry Nap Solution, that her 45 minute naps were insufficient. She was taking the edge off, waking up between sleep cycles, and then fatigue would hit soon after she woke up. That explained much of her residual irritability. I bought her a cradle swing, and did my best to provide 2 hour naps. She was napping so well, and was still only waking up 2-3 times a night even though we were putting her in the crib for the first part of the night. However, her longest sleep stretch had decreased to 3.5 hours.
This past weekend, Gwen had two get-togethers with her friend Payton. Unfortunately, Payton had a double ear infection and a runny nose. I wasn't too concerned for Gwen's health, however, as Payton had been on antibiotics for several days. Keith and I babysat Payton on Friday night, and Payton's daddy babysat Gwen on Saturday night while I threw Payton's mommy a bridal shower. Of course, the first thing Gwen did when we got to their apartment was to start licking all of Payton's toys on her exersaucer, where antibiotics would have no effect. I was still hopeful that Gwen would stay healthy.
This past Sunday was Mother's Day. Unfortunately, my first Mother's Day was not stellar. Gwen woke up from her nap at Payton's house at 7:30, and then did not go to bed until midnight. She was at a different place, so I didn't expect her to want to sleep. I was hoping that she would sleep in until 10 the next morning since she usually sleeps from around 7 or 8 until 6am. Instead, she slept from midnight to 6. I tried to put her down for a nap, and she had no interest in napping more than an hour. When we got home from church, she took short naps for the rest of the day. I thought it was because she wasn't used to Keith putting her down for naps, but I insisted that he do so because I needed a break. By Sunday night she was in full melt-down. I was trying to take a nap to salvage what I could from that evening, but I woke up every 15-20 minutes to a screaming baby. That night she only slept 1-2 hour stretches. This trend has continued every night since then. I took her to the doctor on Tuesday because she had been fussy in a pre-Zantac kind of way, leading me to believe she felt bad in some way. She didn't really show any signs or symptoms, but the triage nurse said that with that drastic a mood change I should bring her in. The doctor, of course, blamed my parenting (telling me I should let Gwen cry it out...if we weren't moving I would be breaking up with Gwen's doctor now) since Gwen didn't have a fever or a runny nose. But if I would have listened to her advice before, my baby would have been in pain from stomach acid burning her esophagus and I would have let her sit in a crib in misery by herself. Sure, she was still in misery in my arms, but at least she knew mommy was there for her. So I'm obviously not going to listen to her doctor and let her cry it out. Just because she is fed and changed does NOT mean that all of her needs are met.
Since her doctor's appointment, I have stuck with my instinct that something is wrong, but I no longer think it is a cold. She is stuffy, but her nose isn't leaking green snot. She is pooping more often than usual, but I wouldn't call it diarrhea. She doesn't seem to have a fever, but she seems to feel better when she takes Tylenol. I gave her a chilled teething ring earlier and she chewed on it lightly. Her gums aren't swollen, but she isn't really showing signs of a cold, and she is cranky like she doesn't feel good. I think that some teeth may make an appearance soon.
Either that, or I simply gave birth to a monster.
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