Wow. That was a rough night.
It's been a few days since I've shared the adventures of life at home alone. On the 3rd day, Eisley actually did much better, but Soren was very difficult. Eisley was rather distraught about a baby gecko that was hiding out in her baby's stroller. She was very hysterically telling me to "put it outside!!" Poor kid. Guess there's a little more girly girl in here already.
It seems that Soren's fussiness has just been incrementally increasing...and exponentially so in the past few days. And of course, it usually starts to amp up even more right around the time I'm trying to make dinner. It's not so easy to manage a squirmy, upset newborn, a needy toddler and some semblance of cooking. Thankfully, Stephan usually manages to come home just in time to take over 1 (or 2) of those things. And keep in mind that until today, I have been either in pain from needed to be stitched or in pain from getting stitched. Not so easy to manage.
Yesterday, after getting stitched up and coming home to hobble around the house, Soren started in early on his night time fussiness. It seemed like every time he would go to sleep, no sooner did you lay him down, he would wake up with his tummy acting up. And then we had to start all over with getting him to calm down, relax and back to sleep. Stephan and Eisley left around 5:00 to go pick up dinner and I spent the majority of the time they were gone trying to keep Soren calm. When they arrived home and we discovered that our order was wrong, Stephan actually took Soren with him (crying half the way there) because Eisley needed to eat dinner and I was physically unable to manage them both. (Besides, Eisley should be able to eat in peace once in a while!) He returned home with a sleeping baby, to my relief.
But the rest of the evening was truly the calm before the storm. Soren slept, woke up and ate once, went back to sleep and slept soundly until about 11:00. Did we take advantage of this time and sleep?! No way. Why would we be smart like that? When Soren did wake up, I fed him and then it started. The fussiness, the crying, the screaming, the arching in pain, the spitting up, the nursing to calm him, the spitting, the crying, the flailing. We were swaddling, shushing, walking, walking, walking him, but it truly was unnerving. For whatever reason, it seems that God gives one of us peace during times like these and surprisingly, despite the state of my body with fresh stitches, I was the one with the peace. (This wasn't the case earlier in the evening!)
Around 1:30am, I told Stephan to go to sleep. We had been taking turns, but he was really fried and upset. I was definitely upset, but not totally unnerved. I put on my house shoes and started walking around and around, shushing, singing, bouncing. Every time he would be quiet for a while, I'd start to get hopeful and really sleepy, but then he would start again with the screaming! So I'd readjust and try something else. At one point, I went out onto our patio--he had just started to tense and arch and really scream in distress, but the cool, damp air seemed to instantly calm him. I was able to finally come inside and sit in the rocking chair for a while without upsetting him. And then I made a rookie mistake: he fell asleep, but i prematurely unswaddled him so I could put him down on his stomach and he woke up to more tummy pain and reflux. So, then it was another half an hour. But I finally did succeed and was able to go to bed around 2:45am--but not in sweet repose. No, I slept with my precious, exhausted baby on my chest. He did sleep for several hours, though, which was yet another sweet mercy in the midst of the craziness.
He did wake up to eat and go back to sleep once, but of course, he woke up for special Mommy time around 8:00--even though Eisley and Daddy were still sleeping! We had a nice half hour of sweet smiles and calm observation of the ceiling fan, etc. And then out of nowhere, the storm struck again, causing our little guy to be rather upset. We decided to take him to the doctor--Thank God for Saturday appointments! He was even able to nurse well and take a nap before the appointment.
At the appointment, he weighed 10lbs 5oz...that's up half a pound from his 9lbs 13oz a week ago. (By the way, we found the miracle diaper rash cure, thanks to Stephan's brother, and Soren's bum is well on its ay to recovery.) The pediatrician agreed that our little guy could probably benefit from a little medicinal help. So, today we will be starting Soren on the same medicine that I took for more than 2/3 of my pregnancy with him, Zantac. We're praying and hoping that it will reduce his discomfort. We're not all too concerned about the massive amount of laundry from the spitting, but it breaks our hearts to see him in such agony. Hopefully something will make a difference...soon!
It seems that Soren's fussiness has just been incrementally increasing...and exponentially so in the past few days. And of course, it usually starts to amp up even more right around the time I'm trying to make dinner. It's not so easy to manage a squirmy, upset newborn, a needy toddler and some semblance of cooking. Thankfully, Stephan usually manages to come home just in time to take over 1 (or 2) of those things. And keep in mind that until today, I have been either in pain from needed to be stitched or in pain from getting stitched. Not so easy to manage.
Yesterday, after getting stitched up and coming home to hobble around the house, Soren started in early on his night time fussiness. It seemed like every time he would go to sleep, no sooner did you lay him down, he would wake up with his tummy acting up. And then we had to start all over with getting him to calm down, relax and back to sleep. Stephan and Eisley left around 5:00 to go pick up dinner and I spent the majority of the time they were gone trying to keep Soren calm. When they arrived home and we discovered that our order was wrong, Stephan actually took Soren with him (crying half the way there) because Eisley needed to eat dinner and I was physically unable to manage them both. (Besides, Eisley should be able to eat in peace once in a while!) He returned home with a sleeping baby, to my relief.
But the rest of the evening was truly the calm before the storm. Soren slept, woke up and ate once, went back to sleep and slept soundly until about 11:00. Did we take advantage of this time and sleep?! No way. Why would we be smart like that? When Soren did wake up, I fed him and then it started. The fussiness, the crying, the screaming, the arching in pain, the spitting up, the nursing to calm him, the spitting, the crying, the flailing. We were swaddling, shushing, walking, walking, walking him, but it truly was unnerving. For whatever reason, it seems that God gives one of us peace during times like these and surprisingly, despite the state of my body with fresh stitches, I was the one with the peace. (This wasn't the case earlier in the evening!)
Around 1:30am, I told Stephan to go to sleep. We had been taking turns, but he was really fried and upset. I was definitely upset, but not totally unnerved. I put on my house shoes and started walking around and around, shushing, singing, bouncing. Every time he would be quiet for a while, I'd start to get hopeful and really sleepy, but then he would start again with the screaming! So I'd readjust and try something else. At one point, I went out onto our patio--he had just started to tense and arch and really scream in distress, but the cool, damp air seemed to instantly calm him. I was able to finally come inside and sit in the rocking chair for a while without upsetting him. And then I made a rookie mistake: he fell asleep, but i prematurely unswaddled him so I could put him down on his stomach and he woke up to more tummy pain and reflux. So, then it was another half an hour. But I finally did succeed and was able to go to bed around 2:45am--but not in sweet repose. No, I slept with my precious, exhausted baby on my chest. He did sleep for several hours, though, which was yet another sweet mercy in the midst of the craziness.
He did wake up to eat and go back to sleep once, but of course, he woke up for special Mommy time around 8:00--even though Eisley and Daddy were still sleeping! We had a nice half hour of sweet smiles and calm observation of the ceiling fan, etc. And then out of nowhere, the storm struck again, causing our little guy to be rather upset. We decided to take him to the doctor--Thank God for Saturday appointments! He was even able to nurse well and take a nap before the appointment.
At the appointment, he weighed 10lbs 5oz...that's up half a pound from his 9lbs 13oz a week ago. (By the way, we found the miracle diaper rash cure, thanks to Stephan's brother, and Soren's bum is well on its ay to recovery.) The pediatrician agreed that our little guy could probably benefit from a little medicinal help. So, today we will be starting Soren on the same medicine that I took for more than 2/3 of my pregnancy with him, Zantac. We're praying and hoping that it will reduce his discomfort. We're not all too concerned about the massive amount of laundry from the spitting, but it breaks our hearts to see him in such agony. Hopefully something will make a difference...soon!
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