It happens after dark. This nearly eight pound bundle of cute smells and hair changes into something dark and sinister. Okay, maybe not something dark and sinister, but something seriously pissed off at EVERYTHING.
It started on Easter. We'd been up on and off with him most of the night. We took him to church, where he of course pulled off his 'cutest and happiest baby in the world routine' and was 'ooohed and awed' upon by all. He fell asleep on the way home, so we giddily thought we'd get to take a nap before going over to my parent's house for dinner. So we get him home and put him in his new bassinet next to my side of the bed and we get in bed too. He would not go back to sleep. We tried various methods for an hour to get him to sleep and to save our sanity. Finally, we decided to put him in his car seat. I didn't like to idea of him sleeping on it, but it was only going to be for an hour or so. And dude, we were TIRED. As soon as we got him buckled in the damn thing, the sandman took him off. Jeff and I looked at each other, scratched our heads, and then just said 'whatever' and quickly got to sleep ourselves. When we collected ourselves after the nap, we realized that in the past day or so, he prefers to sleep on an incline. He's never napped in his crib either, but always in the boppy or in our arms. Hmmm, we said. Perhaps he has reflux? So we decided instead of hysterically calling his doctor, that we'd wait and watch him over the next day or so.
Monday was my first day alone with Doug. I hadn't gotten a ton of sleep, but I was ok. Other than my guilt for tossing him in his crib while I showered, the day was pretty uneventful. However, Monday night was another story entirely. I'm a little foggy on the details now, but he was up most of the night. I think from about 9pm until 4:30. He'd doze a little bit here and there, but then he'd wake up screaming. He wasn't warming up to the screaming either. It was just straight up 'I'm being tortured' kind of screaming. He'd feel better when held up right and rocked, but it was a very rough night for the three of us. I managed about 45 minutes of sleep that night.
When the pediatrician's office was open, Jeff called to make an appointment. I know that we shall experience sleepless nights, and I'm okay with that. What was bothering me was that it was fairly obvious that Doug was in pain. At the office he pulled out his 'happiest baby ever' routine again. Of course, having told the nurse he was constipated, we had to change two dirty diapers while waiting. The Dr. (who we love, found him through my cousin) looked Doug over and asked what was going on. He came to the same conclusion that I had, that Doug had some reflux. He decided to try and treat it first with new formula (which he gave us 3 cans of! I was like dude, you're giving away GOLD!) and keeping him up right after being fed for an hour. So, we left and headed towards some much needed Chipotle and Target and Babies R Us. We had a coupon for Babies R Us, so we got him a bouncy seat there. We had tried propping up the head of Doug's bassinet, but somehow when we do that he ends up turned 90 degrees and at the bottom of the damn thing. We decided to continue to try that, but with a sleep positioner, which we got at Target. When we got home, we realized we forgot the batteries for the bouncer. Also, calling them a 'bouncy seat' is a misnomer. They vibrate on their own, but to bounce them, Mom or Dad has to do it. We keep Doug's on the coffee table, and let me tell you, I expect to have one seriously toned ankle by the time Doug has out grown this! I proceeded to give Doug a bottle with the new formula and then panic. It didn't appear that he was eating it. I couldn't figure out why, because he seemed starved. Then I remembered that his pediatrician said it was a thicker formula. Which doesn't come out of the slow flow nipples. At this point, I was perilously close to hitting my head against the wall. Luckily Jeff had squirreled away some medium and fast flow nipples. For the rest of the day, we just vegged out. After of course sending Jeff back out to Target for more nipples and batteries.
Last night was a blood bath. Doug was just not happy. Having had reflux myself, I totally sympathized with him. I was up most of the night with him, either rocking him in his room or bouncing him in the bouncer. We dozed here and there, but not a whole lot. Around 5 or so Jeff took over and I was able to sleep for a bit. Then around 8 or so, I called in for reinforcements: Grandma. My mom came over and sat with Doug until about 2ish. Jeff got to work about 10 and I got to sleep. I don't think I've slept like that since I had the flu nearly 3 years ago. I was just completely out of it. Doug was, again, a complete angel for Grandma. She even fed him and he didn't thrash and scream like he had been. Jeff called the Dr. back to let them know that the formula wasn't doing much. Unfortunately, Doug's Dr. is out until Friday and they want us to continue to try with the formula. From my own experience with reflux, those kind of diet and position changes do help a little, but overall, it's still miserable. I'm hoping they'll prescribe something for him on Friday so he'll be back to his usual happy self.
I think until then we'll try sleeping in shifts. I may have my mom come over again tomorrow, that was a total life saver. Doug has been asleep since she got here. I think she sprinkled a little Grandma dust on him while she was here. I really have no other explanation for it, but I'm glad he's happy for now.
Edited- Some !@#@! just called with a wrong number (the only kind of calls we get on our land line) and woke him up! I wish you could reach through the phones and strangle people like in cartoons.
No comments:
Post a Comment