Getting Creative

I am sure that this particular topic will be regressed many times over the years but I find in funny how we have become quite 'creative' when it comes to entertaining our son.  First things first, we must admit that he was quite the fussy guy the first few weeks of life so most of the time we were at wits end for calming measures.  After reading "The Happiest Baby on the Block" book, we felt that we were armed with a wealth of knowledge to soothe at even the most cranky of times.  The book focuses on measures of calming a baby by swaddling, swinging, shushing, side laying, and sucking.  2 of 5 measures works for us, as it took many failed attempts of swinging, dangling the poor child over our arm, and stuffing a pacifier in his mouth to learn that he loves to be wrapped as tight as you can get him and that white noise at loud volumes can be instant shutter-uppers.  Where does one find white noise?  The book mentions making a loud shhhhhh sound in their ear that is louder than their crying to calm them down.  Well noted, but we found ourselves on the verge of passing out from lack of breath as well as covering his ear in spittle.  Effectiveness points but ease of use not so much.  Out of frustration one night I cut on the bathroom fan and dragged my husband into the bathroom.  Instant silence.  How blissful!! This trick worked for a couple of weeks, one could hear the distinct rattle of the fan and know that our son is 'acting up'.  We quickly learned that hanging out in a dark bathroom for an hour at a time was not quite convenient and was obtrusive to real life.  Then I discovered that there IS an app for that.  My itouch (best gift ever!) could download an app that plays several kinds of white noise; from airplanes to trains to static from the radio.  At last! A portable shushing option!  Now I do not go anywhere with Noah without bringing a fully charged ipod with me.  It totally comes in handy when you can hook it up to the car speakers for a full surround effect when I am driving with a screaming baby. 
Our child has never taken to the nice rocking chair or swing that we have for him to enjoy.  He likes to be jiggled just enough for his head to bounce around just a bit, enough to put him right to sleep.  We were walking miles jiggling our arms to get him to sleep, and let me tell you, ones shoulders take quite the beating for such activities.  Hence we discovered another creative trick; the white exercise ball.  We first purchased the ball several weeks ago to aid in the discomfort of pregnancy as well as to deal with the stages of labor.  Best 9 bucks for pregnancy as well as putting the baby to sleep.  In a way its better than the rocking chair because I can kick in anywhere in the house and sit and bounce away.  The first time we tried it, he instantly melted in our arms and we knew this was going to be the new way to get him calm and to sleep.  We have mastered this skill by using the boppy pillow to support his weight (yay for the shoulders) and tucking the white noise ipod in the crook of our arm by his ear.  Apparently hours spent on the exercise ball should reap benefits of a rowdy six pack of abs.  We will see about that....
And the final latest creative venture...the swing....
Dinner around here is a sprint event, as our son is typically awake during the dinner hour, we generally shovel food in our faces like a fat kid at a buffet amid the ear piercing cries of our boy who has been shamelessly PUT DOWN (horror!) so that they can eat dinner with both hands.  He can hang in his playpen for a mere 2 minutes before he realizes that he is not being held and the screaming ensues.  We do understand that this is a newborn baby and that we cannot possibly spoil him at this point in his life, but as we end up holding this little guy about 15 hours a day, there comes a point in the day that you want a little break and to be a tiny bit selfish and enjoy your meal.  We tried the swing and for the past week have just eaten dinner with the soothing background vocals of our son.  Sunday, we visited a friend whose son is a couple weeks older and they had a neat swing contraption with a nest and a vibrating chair.  We were sure that he would love this other type of swing as it was like a huge papasan chair that swings side to side.  We eagerly placed him in it, cranked it up...and scream-city.  What the hell we thought, lets try the vibrating chair as he probably will hate that too.  Placed him in it, turned it on, gave him the pacifier....and no shit, he was asleep in 3 minutes! One of the only times I have ever seen him fall asleep with out a boob or someone holding him.  We were on a mission.  I had one lined up from a friend, but the night before, its dinner time and we are setting him up for the usual vocal-slam your dinner fest.  A couple minutes into dinner over the deafning sounds, my husband runs off exclaiming that he had an idea.  He comes back downstairs yielding his hair trimmer, with the safety on, and places it in a plastic bag.  Upon sticking in the swinging chair near my son's leg....you can almost see him sigh in relief.  His little body relaxes, his eyes begin the slow blink, and moments later we are all enjoying a quiet dinner.  Who knew?

Milestones

Between weeks 5-6:
Rolls over to back from stomach.

Socially smiles at us, mostly in the morning after good sleeps!

Note to self

Colicky baby+prescribed Poly Vi Sol with iron= 2 days of pure nonstop crying.
Will not do that again.

Is parenthood everything you thought it would be?....ie wonderful?

My last tirade other than my bragging about size painted a very one sided picture of the day that my son was born.  I did not mention tears of joy, blissful family moments, and the sound of one's heart growing bigger for that new life.  Why? Because in my story, that did not happen. Honestly, that disproportionate cloud nine feeling should stay on the TV and movie scene because I doubt that is how people REALLY feel. 
I was happy to hear him cry, know that he was healthy, and that everything was in the right place.  But then those moments of realization kick in..... relief, exhaustion, FEAR.  Yes, what am I going to do with this little person?!  The sense of responsibility and sheer terror of inexperience take over as you realize, I have never done this, but we have to so here goes... Needless to say the time in the hospital was all surreal, with people constantly in and out, shots and blood drawn from both of us at all hours, and the first days of sleep deprivation make you somewhat of a zombie.  Our poor child lay in dirty diapers for a time as we were timid to change them as he would offer up to us a hearty cry and was quite inconsolable after the torture that is wiping is bottom.  Which then you feel like a failure in that your child is hanging out in soiled pants because you are too afraid that he will cry when you change him.  (Happily, I will say that this phase passed)
In the lateness of the night at the hospital, Jules and I did take time to sit in awe of the power of the circle of life.  We like to see the different parts of him that are us and imagine how he will behave when he is older.  Counting his sweet fingers and toes, admiring his precious hair, and then inevitably he begins to cry again and I once again have that pit in my stomach of fear of how can I meet his needs? What is wrong? 
Crying does a number on a mommy. Really, when he is crying that is the only thing that I hear.  You could be calling me to tell me I am the latest winner in the lotto, wouldn't hear it.  The cry sets off a stress trigger in me that makes your body react physically (more on that in a later blog) and emotionally.  I feel like one of those cats whose back is hunched up and fur standing on end, the sound absolutely stresses me out as I want to hurry up and console him. Which half the issue is that I don't always know what how to do that.  Running through the usual suspects; eat, diaper, sleepy, can shed some light on the situation, but oftentimes you have no freaking idea what to do.  This is where I turn into Betty White (see Snickers ad..) and promptly bark out orders on what we should try, snatch the baby up in hopes that I can console him, then frustrated with it all hand him back to Jules so he can 'try'. By then I have worked myself up into a nice headache that when he finally falls asleep or calms down, I am so wound up that there is no nap in sight.  
Speaking of naps, many people will say 'sleep when the baby sleeps' which is a load of baloney if you are a type A personality such as myself.  It is very difficult to go from a person who is able to multitask and finish many projects and chores in a short day, to someone who barely has time to shower.  It took me 3 days to change the polish on my toenails.  Really?!  Somedays I am not even dressed until 1 in the afternoon.  Lazy you ask?  No, the baby sleeps his best in the morning so I do take advantage and catch up myself.  Not without that little A sitting on my shoulder saying that there are many things I should be doing.  Right now for instance, there is a dresser in about 50 pieces all over Noah's room, a pile of dishes in the sink, a dog that desperately needs a walk, and clothes just hanging in the washer...all while he is sleeping.  Am I sleeping? Heck no.  Don't even get me started about cabin fever.  I feel like I am a slave to the white chair in my bedroom. 
In sum, parenthood is not what I thought it would be as I was deluded by Hollywood for sunshiny days, little crying and a maternal instinct that would naturally lead me to the right answer.  This is not to say that I am not happy that my son is here, I truly am.