That boy he just keeps growing...growing, growing, growing...
Okay, so I was sort of singing the title of this post in my head...I do that a lot these days...or out loud...to Steven. What is a mom with no one to talk to all day except her 6 month old to do? He gets lots of my little made up diddies...
We had Steven's 6 month appointment with his pediatrician on Wednesday. Daddy got to come too! Steven weighs a whopping 19 lbs and is 27 1/2 inches long! What a big boy! He showed off his crazy paper ripping skills with the paper covering the exam table/bed, tried eating every tool the nurses came at him with (stethoscope, ear looker thing. their fingers), and showed off his two new teeth (thankfully by not biting into fore mentioned fingers). He was a champ during the whole appointment, which I was grateful for as we were there during naptime (isn't that how things always work out??). He only fussed (okay, he screamed) when he got his shots (one of those inhale during all three shots, keep inhaling for a few more seconds while the bandaids go on, and then let out the wail that the whole Doctor's office can hear). I felt happy that Nathan was there so he could join me in the misery of seeing our boy so sad. Thankfully he was easily consoled.
We told the nurse practitioner, Tom, that we'd been to another clinic on Sunday and Steven had been diagnosed with an ear infection and that we had him on antibiotics. He took a much more thorough look and determined that Steven did not have an ear infection. In any case he probably just had a little bug (hence the fever) and the Tylenol we gave probably helped with it and not the antibiotic. As I'm not a fan of giving antibiotics unnecessarily, we took him off of it. Since it was also giving him the runs and a diaper rash, it made the decision that much easier. We have a much happier baby now.
Now we are full swing back into nighttime sleep training...SIGH. This has not been easy. Last week he kept me up for three hours straight in the middle of the night. Pretty much crying the whole time. Since I was at my mom's and didn't want the whole house to suffer, he ended up being held, rocked, patted, reswaddled over and over, rebinked over and over and hushed the whole 3 hours. I only made one despairing phone call to Nathan at 2:30 in the morning...just so I wouldn't feel all alone...he didn't have much to offer in the way of help or sympathy...basically, he wondered why he had to be awake too. Thanks.
Thinking that it had entirely to do with the fact that we weren't home in our own beds I came home Friday evening hopeful that it would be a better night, and it sort of was. He only had to eat twice (1:30 & 5:30) instead of his usual 4 times. He still woke up those 4 times, but I was able to rebink, reswaddle and hush him back to sleep in a matter of minutes. This made me happy! However, there was not a repeat last night. He ended up coming into bed with us at 3:30 after I gave up on making him stay in his crib and was too tired to do the back and forth, back and forth from our room to his to get him back to sleep. Tired mommy this morning!
Needless to say, I am not hoping at all...just applying the stupid (I'll love it when it works for me) cry it out method as much as I can. Maybe someday we'll see improvements - that's what everyone is telling me. But I'll believe it when I see it...or sleep it. If tonight is any indication (just putting him to bed took 45 min. of crying it out overall with me going in every 5-10 minutes to do the swaddling and binking and hushing), it might be a while.
We had Steven's 6 month appointment with his pediatrician on Wednesday. Daddy got to come too! Steven weighs a whopping 19 lbs and is 27 1/2 inches long! What a big boy! He showed off his crazy paper ripping skills with the paper covering the exam table/bed, tried eating every tool the nurses came at him with (stethoscope, ear looker thing. their fingers), and showed off his two new teeth (thankfully by not biting into fore mentioned fingers). He was a champ during the whole appointment, which I was grateful for as we were there during naptime (isn't that how things always work out??). He only fussed (okay, he screamed) when he got his shots (one of those inhale during all three shots, keep inhaling for a few more seconds while the bandaids go on, and then let out the wail that the whole Doctor's office can hear). I felt happy that Nathan was there so he could join me in the misery of seeing our boy so sad. Thankfully he was easily consoled.
We told the nurse practitioner, Tom, that we'd been to another clinic on Sunday and Steven had been diagnosed with an ear infection and that we had him on antibiotics. He took a much more thorough look and determined that Steven did not have an ear infection. In any case he probably just had a little bug (hence the fever) and the Tylenol we gave probably helped with it and not the antibiotic. As I'm not a fan of giving antibiotics unnecessarily, we took him off of it. Since it was also giving him the runs and a diaper rash, it made the decision that much easier. We have a much happier baby now.
Now we are full swing back into nighttime sleep training...SIGH. This has not been easy. Last week he kept me up for three hours straight in the middle of the night. Pretty much crying the whole time. Since I was at my mom's and didn't want the whole house to suffer, he ended up being held, rocked, patted, reswaddled over and over, rebinked over and over and hushed the whole 3 hours. I only made one despairing phone call to Nathan at 2:30 in the morning...just so I wouldn't feel all alone...he didn't have much to offer in the way of help or sympathy...basically, he wondered why he had to be awake too. Thanks.
Thinking that it had entirely to do with the fact that we weren't home in our own beds I came home Friday evening hopeful that it would be a better night, and it sort of was. He only had to eat twice (1:30 & 5:30) instead of his usual 4 times. He still woke up those 4 times, but I was able to rebink, reswaddle and hush him back to sleep in a matter of minutes. This made me happy! However, there was not a repeat last night. He ended up coming into bed with us at 3:30 after I gave up on making him stay in his crib and was too tired to do the back and forth, back and forth from our room to his to get him back to sleep. Tired mommy this morning!
Needless to say, I am not hoping at all...just applying the stupid (I'll love it when it works for me) cry it out method as much as I can. Maybe someday we'll see improvements - that's what everyone is telling me. But I'll believe it when I see it...or sleep it. If tonight is any indication (just putting him to bed took 45 min. of crying it out overall with me going in every 5-10 minutes to do the swaddling and binking and hushing), it might be a while.
Oh Cassie, how I relate with your every word (surprise, surprise, with our twin boys, right? ;-) One day or week I feel like we're making so much progress, the next we've gone backwards again. What I can't figure out is if it's Oliver being a particularly difficult sleeper, or me, being an enabler and running to his "rescue" to easily. Do you ever wonder that? You know what, though? The root of it is that we LOVE our boys, we LOVE to comfort, cuddle and kiss them...there could be worse problems right?! Just know that I am right there with you in this struggle, ready to hear you vent and discuss ideas anytime! Love ya!
ReplyDelete:Hugs: Right there with you on the sleep thing! Kyla's been waking up so much lately! I keep telling myself it is teething and will pass. I am okay letting her cry/fuss a little bit, but when it turns to screaming I can't stand it and rush in. Ugh. Someday we will sleep again!
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