ACID, POO, AND SLEEP!

Well what a night it was with the fancy light flashing outside and rolls of thunder on Thursday evening….. I take it that I will not be purchasing a nature CD for Brady in the near future since it appears that sweet love is not fond of the thunder rolling. 1:45 in the morning came awful early as he has so sweetly spoiled momma and hasn’t been getting up for that middle of the night feeding… He just needed a little lovin’ and rockin’ and was fast asleep in 15 minutes. Then it was up for the morning at 4:45, which I get up at 5 am anyways, but that 15 minutes of sleep that I lost has burdened my eyelids all day! However, I know how the sweet love feels with the thunder and lightning as I was not a fan of thunder and lightning ohhhhhh until what 6th grade, 7th grade.. ok 30! :) I started thinking last night as I watched that sweet little pacifier going up and down as everything in his mind was fine now that he was in my arms, I now have to be this super brave person! The fears that I have always been able to just kind of ignore, I now have to deal with should I be faced with them with Brady scared. I have to be tough! I mean here I am facing my 33rd birthday coming up and I can be honest with you that I will get a hop in my step if I am walking around in the house and it is thundering and a flash of lightning comes my way! It was weird though because last night I thought nothing of it as I comforted my son who needed us. Just yet another thing of wonder that comes along with parenting. Blows my mind the things that you just “do”… Well time went by a lot quicker then I thought… Here are a couple of things that I wanted to mention that were discovered this week….

1- Last night he was a little fussy which now we never know if it is acid reflux or colic so we just baby him as if he had both… I am really trying to work with him on being content with us sitting as we are getting him to sleep as he likes you to walk and bounce. Bouncing can really make the reflux get bad which he doesn’t understand that.. to him he is screaming BOUNCE MEEEEEEEEEE! Which I figured out this- although I try hard not to ever lay him flat just for right now unless it has been a while and he is having play time… that doesn’t usually last long anyways, but back to what I figured out.. last night as he was not a happy camper! With his EYES CLOSED he was letting me know what he thought, so I knew he was tired. I decided I would try swaddling him in a blanket… since he showed by his love for the sling that he still loves to be snug as a bug against you. Well although he didn’t like me setting him down (I strongly disagree with every book that says babies can’t be spoiled :) either that or he is proving to be the miraculous baby that I know he is and go outside every way of every baby lol! But we are suppose to love them and spoil them is my opinion) on the blanket, I put his arms down and pulled that blanket tight around him, popped that paci in held him snug to my body and POOF here came night night time! Granted there was a little wrestling and this is never a sure thing since sometimes if he is mad, being restricted will just throw fuel on the fire!! But I say GIVE IT A SHOT! Also, if he still needs a little bouncin, I cradle him in my arms so that when I bounce he is laying “sideways” so should there be reflux I think that it would go side to side and not up and down irritating him. So far it seems as though my “hypothesis” is right :).

2- Strip em! Brad and Brady both are like walking heaters, well ok Brady just lays there but you get the jist of what I am saying… We are trying to really work with Brady and teach him that Daddy can console him too but sometimes he just gets so worked up that there needs to be an intervention for both of the boys sakes :)…. Just that is what had to happen Wed. night.. Little love got so worked up so I asked Brad if he wanted a break (I am careful to not step on toes as hard as it is to hear the fit, I know that he has to realize that Daddy is there to love him… I hate seeing fathers go through that after baby gets used to momma) and he did….. So I took Brady and immediately started stripping him as I was kissing his head which you could feel he was hot with a onesie and then some pants on, it was an easy fix. So I faced him forward and took those pants off and THEN IT HAPPENED, SILENCE! I swear just the smallest things make it better… Just putting him in a different position… letting him see what is going on in a different way… Or heck, taking off those pantalones and letting those thighs breathe :).

3- After a very long night of not being happy at all Friday night… Saturday morning little lovebug was still acting not too happy. He started doing his usual red as a tomato pushing with Brad trying to get the stanky poo out of his little bootie. Well… after this was done, Brad took him into change him (this is a huge deal as Brad+dirty diapers is a no go. Well I went in there as I was not expecting him to change him as he is always handed to momma to change). Not to be too descriptive but usually it is a huge pile of poo… soft…. No shape to it, kinda like clay, not runny soft. I have always been told by the pedi when I ask if his poo is ok like that, that that is fine poo. So as I am observing… all that pushing resulted in a baby carrot shaped poo coming out and that IS IT. Brady consistently poops every other day pretty much (can consistently and pretty much be in the same sentence haha), so it is usually a pretty good amount on “poo day” (it has been named :)), so that little bitty carrot led me to worry (Brad is now also taking credit for “changing a poo diaper” with that little carrot thing!! :) ). Of course my sleepy mind starts rolling through the hours before where there was nothing that I could do to console him… OH MY GOSH, HE IS STOPPED UP, THAT IS WHAT WAS BOTHERING HIM! So immediately I go to grab my thermometer as I decided I was going to try the good ol thermometer trick that I had heard and read everywhere about. I wanted to also make sure that he wasn’t running a temperature so as I (please excuse me if this gets graphic) put the thermometer in I hear this PFFFFFFFFT (airy toot impression :)) and feel pressure on thermometer…. THIS ANACONDA POO comes pouring out of his poor little bootie! Then it was followed by some soft stuff like he normally has. POOR SWEET BABY was trying to tell momma that the poo monster was hurting him AND I HAD NO CLUE as he has never had constipation like this. He seemed so relieved and gave me the smile that lights up my world and I felt so much better for him! So now, although I hope this doesn’t last long as I read they can actually become dependant of you helping them poo, I am keeping a close eye on the hardness of his belly and if he acts like he is in pain I am helping him….. Poor thing. I swear those little ones, although so tough, have to go through so much while their systems develop. It took a lot of reading for me to be talked into believing that the thermometer in noway invades their privacy, infact it doesn’t bother him at all… He gets really still and quiet, although the quietness was interrupted by grunting this weekend. Just for y’all that have not done this and wonder if it hurts them.. DON’T THINK TWICE ABOUT IT… they are fine, and so are you to do it. I have left a message with the pediatrician’s nurse to call me back to see if there is anything I can give him as of course I have read about giving him Karo syrup (then I read NOT to give Karo syrup for the same reasons as honey, botulism! How do you know what to believe? I am not willing to take a “gamble” with Brady! I want to hear from the doctor yes or no instead of killing myself worrying with the internet) and juice, but I am not sure what a 10 week old system can handle so before I try anything I want to see what the doctor says. Then I will see what I believe and probably keep worrying with yet another opinion (the doctors) :).

4- On a better note as things sure haven’t been allllll bad things :), is it possible for me to have slept TOO LONG? Hahaha! Sweet little “bug” (just to let you know this is his said nickname, short for LOVE BUG hahaha….. I have been waiting for that perfect little name to come about AND THERE IT IS :). I figured with Brad taking on the ghetto nickname of Boo (at first it was funny, but now it is stuck :)) and Clyde carrying “Boog” (don’t ask, different nicknames evolved into Boog, in which he answers to as well lol. I couldn’t even tell you where it came from lol), Bug just rolls off the tongue :). I wanted to do “monkey” or something like that like Tori and Dean :0) but too many people do that nickname… :). Most of the time though he is called LOVE :)) has done ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS with sleeping through the night. He has taken on to having a feeding at around 7 or 7:30 and then again at 9:30 or 10 which changed from him feeding at 8 or 9 and getting up at 2 or 3 before I went back to work. However, I have started adjusting as well to going to bed at around 11(I can’t tell you the last time I went to bed at 11 regularly in my life’s daily run) and getting up at 5 for my 6 hours of sleep and I love it as it is a huge difference getting that 6 hours of sleep consistently compared to split up to amount to 6 as it was with his middle of the night feeding. KEEP FAITH NEW MOMS READING THIS, the sleeping gets so much better! Or I should say, your bodies get so much better living off the sleep your baby presents to you :). Last night I put him in bed at 10:30 (he fell asleep in my arms about 10:10- I usually rock and love on him for about 20 minutes after he falls asleep, then put him in his bed. I know that we will have to work on him falling asleep on his own here pretty soon!) and this morning I ended up taking him to moms STILL ASLEEP! I was going to wake him up at 6 as I am scared that one day if I try this he will have a meltdown and I will be delivering a veeerrry crabby, wet diapered (from his night time diaper as you don’t change a sleeping baby!! Lol), hungry little guy. But at the same time if we want him to learn to sleep longer periods at night then I don’t want to wake him at 6 if he isn’t awake on his own! You know what I mean?? So far the gamble has been ok the two times I have tried it, although I always have a bottle made and ready to hand to mom :)). I also don’t mind chunkin’ those dice for the gamble since she is only 10 minutes from the house! Anyways, so he is going great! Most of the time though he is going down around 10-11 and getting up at 5-6! I wish I could give him a high five for that :)!

Soooo, as you can see the Connell Curiosities continue running like a marathon through my mind :). I swear it seems just as you have one thing figured out (in this case us nailing down acid reflux) his little body gives us something else to work on (the cause of constipation). I will post again letting you know what the doctor says and what I try and what seems to work or not work. This blog went infinity long so I am going to cut myself off :). Hope everyone has a great week!!