Monday sucked. You can read the previous blog entry if you want to know how much it sucked. Hours and hours of crying and then handed the baby off to daddy to I could go cry in my room while I heard her cry downstairs. Thank goodness Jason was able to take her, because I was just spent. And I knew the crying was not just “I want to cry for crying’s sake” but something wasn’t quite right. And, after not hearing back from the midwives, I decided to schedule her with her pediatrician (who is also my doctor) to see if anything was going on.

Monday night, we talked about what we were noticing, and decided to try not burping her after eating. Not even really lifting her all the way upright, but very very slowly transitioning her from side lying (but still slanted) to a little less side lying, but still reclined. Less reflux-face, less gas, and hence – less crying. They say to keep babies more upright for reflux, and to burp them for gas, but … well … apparently not this one. I continued this pattern during the night and next morning, and still she was doing good. Granted, I also significantly changed my diet to very basic foods for the moment, but I’m not sure how much that played a role and how much was the moving, but I don’t know that I care.

The doctor’s appointment was rather uneventful, and as the doctor predicted, she was perfectly content and quiet during the visit (for the most part, she wasn’t thrilled about the stethoscope to the belly while naked and lying on her back). But the doctor could easily hear and feel a pretty large amount of gas in her stomach/intestines. Not much we can do for it, but as she gets bigger, she should grow out of it – better coordinating her breathing/swallowing, getting a bigger stomach, and better managing the movement of gas through her system. She noted that gripe water may be hit or miss, and since Daphne is also showing signs of mild reflux, simethicone (gas drops for infants) may help or may make the reflux worse making her swallow more air leading to pain from the reflux and more gas. We’re going to take a pass on that one for now and see how things continue to go as they are. (And I’ll be avoiding and only slowly reintroducing gassy foods. 🙂 )

Net result is that she spent Tuesday fairly happy. There were a couple of spontaneous “oh god, that’s uncomfortable” cries, but they were brief; you move her or bounce her and she’s feeling better. Of course, she really only was comfortable being held and bounced on a ball most of the time, which makes for a sore back, but a sore back and a happy baby is a win over an unhappy baby (regardless of how the back feels) any day. But the shocking change from nearly incessant crying to fairly content the whole day is so dramatic. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll take it, but it’s almost shocking to the system!

And this morning, she was doing so well and so content that after a little down time post-feeding, we played! In a five week old this consists of moving her limbs around (hand to hand, hand to foot, bicycling the legs, flexing/extending the legs), putting her on her belly (and then putting her on her belly on my chest when she screams bloody murder about being tummy down on the carpet), sitting her up facing me and facing out (encouraging her to do a bit of sitting on her own, but offering lots of support, of course), and talking at her (describing the room) while she sits facing out on my lap. About 20 minutes of this, and she’s done. But it is, literally, the first time we’ve really had a “play session” that lasted longer than 60 seconds.

For those who ask “isn’t it all worth it” and “are you bonding” now that we’ve had some more good days and she’s more interactive, not everyone bonds immediately. For some of us, it’s a love that grows over time. That doesn’t mean I’m less protective of her, that I’m less of a parent to her. It means it’s a relationship that is being built, and not one that appears entirely formed, magically, on the day of birth. But we are getting there, and that’s all I can ask.