I'm Ready To Talk About It

It has taken me a week, but I am finally ready to talk about the worst day of my adult life.

Last Thursday was by far the worst day of my life! Poor Miss Elise has been battling reflux and really bad gas. She also has the privilege of having colic too! And Yes reflux is different than colic. What that means is she cries A LOT!!! On a normal day we would have crying from 4pm-10pm with a few 10-15 min breaks. She also will cry throughout the day for really what seems to be no reason. I just change her diaper, feed her, try to get some gas passed and then just hold on until the crying stops. I can handle that. It sucks a lot, but I can deal with it. Very different from big brother Ryan who never cried! Elise is making up for both of them. Everyone warned me this would happen and silly me thought "No way-both my babies will be angels"--let me first say Elise is an Angel and very content when she is not crying-she just is crying 90% of the time (at least it seems that much)

So last Thursday started pretty normal. Both kids up, ate breakfast, and played. Ryan went down for nap (Elise was fussy but not bad) I was rocking little Miss Pretty (as I call her) and had a great conversation with my sister in law Erin. I hung up and was thinking it was time for Miss Pretty to nap and that is pretty much were everything went to HELL!!
Elise started to cry-no big shock, but then she continued. She started at 11am and did not stop until 10pm--yes you read right nine hours of non-stop crying!! I shouldn't say that. I think I had her settled and almost asleep three times were she was quiet maybe for 5-10 min.

Now this was not just crying that is normal--this was turn your face red shrieking kind of crying. I tried everything, gas drops, gripe water, walking, sitting, rocking, feeding, patting, bouncing, shhhh-ing, white noise, loud music, EVERYTHING!!! But alas Little Miss Pretty was having none of it. She just cried and cried.

Now at this point you might be asking, "Did you call the DR.?" and the answer is No, I could not even get my head straight enough to think of doing that. You may also be asking "Did you call anyone for help?" Again the answer is No--honestly did not even cross my mind!! You will probably also ask "What was Ryan doing?" He is so amazing, he just went about his day playing, getting into things, eating, and napping. He would try to come and kiss the baby and pat her like he always does but that is it!! It was like we were having a perfectly normal day! He makes life just a little easier, not just by being good, but also just by how happy he is. He makes my heart sing :)

Now not only was this going on, but I also had a little bit of stomach distress going on. This meant that I was frequently holding the baby while having a bit of the Cha-Cha-Cha, which I know seems crazy, but when I set her down she screamed like she was going to explode, so what else could I do?!?

So here is were it gets to be really bad: In retrospect this is all my fault :(
Ryan used to like to be pat pretty solidly to get himself settled down. He also liked his paci. So I tried patting and bouncing like I did Ryan-which I will say was pretty aggressive, but it always made Ryan feel better. I was doing all of these things and now in retrospect realize was keeping her awake. So basically I forced my 5 week old daughter to stay awake for nine straight hours! I am shocked CPS isn't at my door!!
I have now learned my little delicate flower just likes her back rubbed gently with the slightest pat pat here and there to relieve her gas...and it works!! My little flower also does not like the paci or anything else put in her mouth that she does not want. She will scream if you try to give her the breast when she is not ready for it!!
I also was trying to feed her because I thought she might not be getting enough milk. This is where I again went wrong. I was giving her the breast about every hour to hour and a half. What I really was doing was making it so her little digestive system had to work overtime to try and get out all the food I was giving her. I also have a very aggressive letdown, which means that she has to gulp the milk to keep up with it. This then gives her more gas!! So basically I was making her reflux waaaay worse than it had to be. This is where I hate breastfeeding. You never really know how much they are getting, and when you have a little one who cries about everything, you never know if it is because they are hungry or not. But...I digress

So, to recap I overfed, over bounced, over patted, and did just about everything I could do to make my little girl miserable for an entire day

I now have learned she likes to eat about every three hours, she likes to be in a baby carrier the entire day-including her naps, so I am pretty much attached to her from the time she wakes up until the time she gets her bath. I have also learned she IS a delicate little flower who has to be handled very gently.

I also no longer drink coffee or eat/drink anything acidic and I also am trying to cut all milk/milk products from my diet. This includes any food made with milk in it. This is to rule out MPI (milk protein intolerance) Bacon and eggs, here I come!!!

Well, wish me luck and say a prayer for me. A friend said to me every day will get microscopically better, until one day it won't seem so bad.