The Bailey Chronicles

Bailey has had a hard run these last couple of weeks. Her cold lasted about a week, which like I said every time she coughed (which was after every meal) she would eject her food. Fortunately her congestion is gone and her food is now staying down. Unfortunately this last week she has become colicky for reasons unknown to me. Starts around 3 and lasts til around midnightish/3 am. The later part of the evening is the worst of it, by the time John comes home from work she is a total mess. And that brings us to today, her two month well baby check up.

They decided to give her a series of immunization shots, a total of 6 immunizations in the form of three shots and an oral dose. She was ambushed with needles, which for obvious reasons upset her greatly for about ten minutes. Then the Dr. says she will probably run a fever from them for the next few days and be cranky for the rest of the week... nice. He decided that she hasn't gained enough weight in the last two weeks and that it must be because I am not producing enough milk and not from her throwing up for a solid week, so therefore I must supplement because that is the reason for her crankiness in the evenings. On top of that he thinks I should be keeping her awake at all costs for two hours at a time between sleeping periods LOL (guess I am not supposed to sleep at all anymore in his head). In his opinion these are the two reasons for her colicky fits. I am also supposed to lay her down in her crib awake let her cry for 10 minutes, pick her up to calm her, then repeat until she passes out I guess from emotional distress or something. I have decided to listen to part of the advice and the other part I have decided that he may be full of it because since he is a doctor I have my doubts on the amount of time he has actually spent staying at home taking care of a newborn.

I do think that he is right about part of her fussiness lately is probably her having to much energy, but I don't know about you for me it's hard to entertain a two month old baby for any longer than an hour (realistically 30-45 min) without her becoming overstimulated and totally cranky... so yeah if she wants to sleep I am letting her. If you know of a way to keep a two month old baby awake and happy for long periods of time I'd be happy to listen to suggestions with the exception of introducing the pacifier, not trying that until she is at least 3 months old if she still acts like she needs it. As of now she has a crib toy that entertains her, she loves to listen to me talk, and she likes it when I show her highly contrasted visually stimulating things, but I can only hold her interest for a little while before she decides she has had enough. I have read that if a baby gets suddenly colicky to check your diet because they may have a hard time digesting certain things like dairy. I drink at least 2 gallons of milk a week on my own so that might be part of the problem. So I will take one for the team and switch to soy.

The crib thing we will have to tackle during day time naps next week after the shots have healed. Wish us luck! If I have been screamed at all day and the only way I can go to bed for the night is rocking her for a little bit in my chair, then I am going to do what I can to get my own sleep. Momma has to recharge her batteries too! I have no plans of supplementing her on formula, even though the Dr. suggested it. She threw up for a solid week, I am positive that is the only reason for her slow weight gain in these last two weeks. If there is still cause for concern on the follow up appointment in two weeks, then I will do as he asks. Honestly, I was surprised she even gained 4 ounces with all that spitting up she was doing.

Anyway in honor of the historical moment in time that happened today we dressed Bailey in her patriotic bests and I must say she rocked the outfit. Check out those chubby cheeks of hers, I always wanna squish them. We did watch the 2009 Presidential Inauguration today as a family, but she slept through most of it, politics aren't really her thing. The important thing is, is that she can technically say (when she can talk) that she witnessed the first black president being sworn in since in her future she will probably be reading about it in her history books... weird, but fun to think about. These photos are my official documentation of her being present for this event. These pics were taken with my cell since I can't find the cable for my real camera to the computer, so this will have to do. Some may be blurry because she was kicking and swinging her arms about in a happy joyous sort of manner, she loves that fish crib toy! It lights up and plays a fun little jingle whenever you hit is, so what's not to love about that? Despite her hard day she was actually in the best mood that I have seen her in, in two weeks.