No, I did not spell "TILL" wrong. I mean "TIL". As in "Today I learned...". And while this particular motherhood learning experience technically happened yesterday it lasted well enough into the evening to become "today" and so it goes like this:
Gwen has been doing wonderful with nursing like a pro and sleeping decent intervals. She actually came out sucking at the air and is a vigorous eater along with sleeping for at least two to three hour increments. That is until yesterday when I experienced my first motherhood lesson.
It began in the late afternoon after feeding her a nice full meal of "mommy milk". She was sleepy and daddy swaddled her and layed her down, but I noticed she was fussier than usual. It wasn't long before she started crying unconsolably - clean diaper, full belly, kisses, rocking, soothing - NOTHING would help except nursing or a paci in her mouth. So paci stayed in and we figured it would just be a matter of time before she stopped fussing and wore herself out. All babies get fussy now and then, right? Wrong. She stayed completely upset and this was not like her at all.
This went on into the early evening and the more she cried the more my heart broke. I was as upset as she was because I felt so helpless and all I wanted to do was "kiss it and make it better". A frantic phone call later to the after hours line and I was able to speak directly to her pediatrician. What a relief! It was decided after some in-depth questioning that I may have been eating some foods that weren't sitting well with Gwen when she nursed and hence the upset stomach. I felt so guilty! This was all my fault even if it was done unknowingly. After a late night pharmacy run by daddy to track down a syringe and some mylanta administered in a "baby" dose, Gwen started to feel better and we were able to lay her down to sleep.
Today she seems to be a little exhausted from her long ordeal, but I pray she quickly becomes her "old" self again. Nine days into her life and I have already learned a valuable motherhood lesson. I guess this one can be summed up as "You are what you eat".
Sorry, Sweetheart ♥
TGFP - Thank God for Paci!
I'm sorry to hear Gwen was so unhappy, but you should NOT feel guilty- these things will happen. There's no way to be an instantly perfect mom. You HAVE to have "things I learned" days in order to figure out how to best care for Gwen. If you don't have those days you're either a supernatural mind-reader or you're not paying attention to your baby. And I don't know about you but all the nursing classes I took and books I read said, "unlike what you've heard or what your grandmother will tell you, what you eat really doesn't affect the baby." Maybe for some babies this is true, but others are more sensitive and it just takes time to figure that out. There will be plenty more moments like these, and some will even involve bumps, bruises, cuts, and many many tears. You just have to know that you're being the best Mommy you can be!
ReplyDeleteYou are an excellent mommy already!! There will be lots of "things I learned" moments. We all have them. Gwen is so lucky to have you and Bryan as parents.
ReplyDeleteAdorable picture! I am glad you guys learned what was upsetting Gwen and were able to fix it! It is amazing what we are learning about our babies.. and what they learn about the world daily.
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