8.09.2011

this one undoubtedly brought to you by starbucks



I've been hearing horror stories from my friends with children about this regression that happens when their baby turned 6 weeks old. Babies who sleep like champions and spend their days cooing and cuddling suddenly turn into life-size Chuckie dolls who scream and cry and refuse sleep. It was the stuff nightmares were made of but, seeing as how I've never had a baby before, I didn't fully understand it until Ethan decided he wanted to participate. Let's just say I've had no more than two hours of sleep for the past two nights. Ethan decided he wanted to wake up twice every hour nearly on the dot. In addition, he's been super constipated and absolutely miserable. That part just breaks my heart. It's the most incredibly upsetting feeling to not be able to immediately just take your child's pain away. (Let this also serve as a shout-out to Ethan's amazing pediatrician who has patiently and cheerfully tolerated what feels like my 5,000 calls to the emergency after-hours line begging for suggestions to take away his discomfort. She rules.)

All of this beginning, of course, the week my husband is away on his business trip...going out to fancy dinners, sleeping in a swanky hotel, texting me (with good intentions, of course) to tell me I should try to get some rest as if it was a novel suggestion I hadn't thought of.

This morning I tried to do a lot of things. I tried to save a baby bird, help an elderly couple broken down on the side of the road, pick up a prescription at the drugstore, run an errand at Babies 'R Us...and in the end, I ended up with a $200 speeding ticket and found Starbucks closed due to a power outage.

In other words...today wasn't my day.

Like a typical mommy, I cheered on Ethan as he finally produced a stinky diaper this evening after days of grunting, pushing, shoving and screaming in discomfort. It wasn't just your run of the mill stinky diaper, either. This one could definitely constitute as an explosion. I used sixteen baby wipes and, wiping all the way up to his armpits and shoulder blades, finally managed to get him clean. I was so excited that I took a picture of the aftermath and texted it to my husband with a happy, "look what Ethan did!" caption.

This, my friends, is what parenthood is really about.

As the evening starts to unwind, so is Ethan. He decided not only will he go down for a nap that has been a reflection of how sleep deprived he's been, but he's now chock full of smiles and giggles while his grandma sings him songs. Forget the fact I haven't slept in days (and have admittedly felt on the verge of a nervous breakdown), I feel so much better seeing him feel better. It's like an instant relief to see the smiles return to his face and watch him sleep so peacefully after such a rough couple of days. May this be the end of all of his discomfort! Keep your fingers crossed for him (and for me to continue to survive this week sans sleep and husband!).

4 comments:

  1. Your Baby is beautiful!!! (but I guess you already knew that :))

    Stopping by to follow you on GFC through the Blog Hop :)


    http://www.giveawayswithgrace.com

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  2. I will never forget the first 'explosion' diaper that Morgan handed me when she was just 2 months old =/ Talk about excitement from me b/c she actually pooped, but sadden b/c it was not so much fun cleaning the mess up!

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  3. $200 speeding ticket?!? Good lord that's horrible.

    I'm glad you and Ethan are feeling better.

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  4. you had an eventful day :) hope the hubby gets home soon. I remember reading this was his first week back to work. The next week will get better :)

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