We have made it to the weekend with a successful week behind us, whoah….I thought for a minute it would never end. With that being said, the ‘C’ word has entered our home, the word that makes both women and men cringe at the mere thought…the one that works your last nerve where you question yourself as a parent. The word I am referring to is colic. There, I said it. For so long, I have referred to it as the ‘C’ word to my doctors and pediatrician as if it were some secret I was trying to keep under wraps. They have reassured me that it only happens to a VERY SMALL amount of babies and not to worry so much. First of all, I’m the queen of worry and second if you tell me there is only a 1 out of 10 chance for anything happening, I will fall into that 1 percent. Let me give you a perfect example. When I was pregnant and got tested for diabetes, they told me only a very small amount of women get gestational diabetes. You guessed right, I got the ‘D’ word. Then, they told me with exercise and proper diet I would not have to resort to insulin, ‘Only a small percent, very small percent of women have to go on insulin’. Guess what, 3 weeks later I was giving myself 3 shots a day. Believe me, I tried everything to stay away from those shots. Watching everything I ate, no sugar, low carbs, no fried foods, basically a pregnant woman’s worst nightmare…not being able to give into cravings. I always kept the bright side up thinking it could always be worse, there could be something wrong with the baby…so as long as baby was healthy, I would do anything to keep it that way.
So anyway, as I swam laps just about every day and walked like I was doing a cross country journey…healthy baby…healthy baby. I actually swam laps the day before I delivered and my family thought I had lost my mind. There was an ongoing joke, that when Carmen goes into labor, she is going to ask somebody to drop her off at the pool first so she workout. Well, let me tell you, all that working out payed off when my ankles were strapped up to my ears pushing for 4 hours after being in hard labor for the first 21. Ladies, don’t get it twisted, this is not a time to sit on the couch and chill all day. (although you do have that right, I cannot say I was not guilty of it) Plus, after you deliver that big bouncing baby, you will lose that flab a lot faster. I am 32 days in and 32 pounds lighter. Trust me, I have not worked out since I gave birth because I had that fabulous cesarean that put me on lock down for a while. Even though I fought everybody when they told me to sit down and quit doing so much, I still claimed my independence. My healing process has taken much longer because of this. Note to self, take the opportunity to relax when you can, things have only sped up 10 fold.
Anyway, back to the ‘C’ word. How could this be? So far, knock on this fake hardwood table, it is not that bad when I compare to other stories I have heard from friends. Tyson only gets a bit fussy here and there, usually around the same time every day, and what really blows about it is that there is really nothing I can do to make it better. I resort to all that I have been taught and all my maternal instincts: rocking, checking the diaper, checking bottle time, holding him like a cocoon in my arms, rubbing his head, getting out the gripe water, taking a bath, on and on. Does he not like me? Oh…don’t be silly, he’s not old enough to realize how crazy his mom was back in the day! We will keep that a secret between you, I and God. Some days are better than others. One thing I contribute to his fussiness is my house being a 3 ring circus. I have had to pull out the bull whip on people just ‘dropping’ by and staying for hours. Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate the love and help, but I got this, really! I am not afraid to ask when I need help. I am not afraid to call my mother and say ‘Please come over for 2 hours so I can take a nap, please, please!’ As always, she does just like all good mommies, do it because they love us. Plus, it gives her quiet time with Tyson, which I know she loves. Like I said, it can be a 3 ring circus around here, and my place is not even that big. I know, I will set up a patio outside with a hostess to seat people. Yeah, there’s an idea!
Anyway, sometimes I feel a bit overwhelmed by too much going on at one time, so I have to put my foot down. Small doses always works best for me. So here we are, Tyson celebrated his one month birthday yesterday (August 1st) and we are all alive and well. Ahhhh…we made it through the first month, I actually figured out what to do when we came home from the hospital, which was my biggest fear considering I had no idea what I was doing. Let me offer you one more piece of advice. All of those books we bombard ourselves with when we are pregnant, well, you can throw half of that out the window. I don’t think God created an instruction book when he created man. Trust your instinct, even if you have to dig deep. Just like my doctor said when I was pushing like a wild animal, dig deep…dig deep…dig deeper than you ever have in your life. I still will never forget those words. Thank You Dr. Lispcomb. For every challenge I face from here on out, I will still hear those words whisper in my head. As always, make it a good one! -Carmen
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Hey Carmen,
Congratulations on the new little one! If the "C" seems to get worse and nothing seems to work to releive it, check with your pediatrician. When my William was a newborn we also had problems with "C", after trying all the remedies it was determined that he actually was suffering from Baby Reflux. We switched him to a different formula, Enfamil AR. This has a high amount of rice starch in it, this will thicken in the stomach and decrease the amount of spit up and/or reflux. I was skeptical at first because he did not spit up that often after eating. According to the Dr he was getting reflux where the stomach contents were backing up into the esophogas but was swallowing instead of spitting up and getting a burning sensation in his throat from the stomach acids. We could tell a difference within 24 hours and the "C" was completely gone in less than a week! Good Luck and God Bless!
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