Aaah, a shower!

What a wonderful thing! Aspen has been pretty needy lately so if I can't do something with her in my arms, then it doesn't happen. I have had great intentions of getting up at 6:30 each morning this week to get us into a schedule for when we go to work, but at that time of the day I just want to sleep. Our nights have been long and our days have been tough. She cries a lot and I don't have the guts right now to discern whether it is physical or emotional needs that need to be met. Since her body is throwing her for a loop right now I just give in most of the time.

It seems like every time I lay her down, I scurry to get myself something to eat then try accomplish something on my list when she wakes up crying. I want to let her cry it out, but she just gets more hysterical as the time goes on. Her hysteria sends her into vomiting (not that vomiting is difficult for her since her stomach valves aren't working right) and then I get scared that she'll choke on it. Not to mention it's a Worst Mother of the Year award for making your 5 week old daughter "cry it out" while laying in her own vomit.

Jerrad gets home and we try to spend some time together as a family but it's usually just a tag team effort to get her calmed down and/or asleep. Last night she didn't want to sit still so Jerrad was walking laps in the house with her and singing to her. Then we went downstairs to eat and Jerrad had her while I hurried through my supper. Since they were stationary she was ticked. So Jerrad turned on the music on the Xbox and we hit the low point of my day: my daughter likes Dwight Yoakum.

While Jerrad was eating, I took Aspen upstairs and bathed her. We went back downstairs and I nursed her while we watched a movie. She went to sleep fairly quickly and stayed that way. She didn't even vomit until after the movie was over and went back to sleep soon thereafter. So I took her upstairs and put her in her bassinet. She stayed asleep for about 20 minutes then went into immediate hysteria. It was a whole new cry and it scared me. I picked her up and tried to hush her to a calm, but it was NOT working. I took her to the nursery and rocked her a while and she went back into a deep sleep. I took her into the bedroom and put her down in the bassinet and immediate hysteria. I picked her up and got her calm again then decided to put her in bed with me. This sometimes helps in the daytime, but not last night. She wanted to be held completely and nothing less. I took her downstairs and we slept in the recliner for a couple of hours then went back to bed with her in her bassinet. After that she slept great! She went to sleep initially at midnight and woke up at 7:00 this morning! But Momma didn't get anything solid until 3:00 or so. Oh well, she seems to be doing well so far today.

We went to the doctor on Monday about this vomiting that is happening with almost every feeding. He said that at this age a problem can show up where the top stomach valve is weak and the bottom one is tight. Making things not pass very easily but also making it come up too easily. As long as she is still gaining and her stools remain yellow she'll outgrow it and we'll all be ok. We were given a prescription for some medicine but were very skeptical about giving prescription meds to a 5 week old. I gave in and tried a dose then 5 minutes later she vomited. While waiting for the next scheduled dose I did more research on the drug and decided immediately to stop it.

We are monitoring her stools and weight. Jerrad found his digital fish scale and we use it. Her bouncy seat weighs 5 lbs 1 oz and has a bar over the top. We tare the scale with the bouncy seat, then put her in and pick it up. Yes, we are rednecks!

It's not been glamorous or even ideal, but she is still amazing! She loves her bath, her green blanket from Steve and Liana, and without a doubt loves her Daddy! Well, if you'll excuse me, there is a baby needing held and I must oblige her! =)