A Rough 24 Hours

Though we had decided ahead of time to let her sleep through the night if she didn't wake up, we changed her mind when she started to stir slightly around 2:00 am.  She's so tiny, and hadn't eaten much during the day, so we felt a sense of urgency to get as much food into her as possible.  So we rousted her up, which of course caused her to cry.  And then she ended up not eating a whole lot.  So much for that experiment.  Veteran parents are already thinking, "Rookie mistake.  Think, Amy and Lee -- you want her to sleep through the night.  The last thing you want to do is wake her up when she isn't asking for it."  Oh well.

 

Anyway, today's been a little rougher.  We had a full morning of paperwork and shopping, so by the time we got home to do the midday feeding and nap, she had been rubbing her eyes for a good hour.  Meaning that by the time we were preparing her bottle, she was howling.  And then we had a Goldilocks problem: one bottle was too hot, and another was too cold.  And there was none that was just right.  And then she started crying from having cried so hard that it was hurting.  Boy, that was hard, to know she was doing a perfect job of telling us what she needed and we were letting her down.  Not to mention the fact that neither of us had slept well the night before, or that the sound of a baby crying is not a pleasant one to endure for long stretches of time. 

 

Finally, we got a "just right" bottle, and when she finally gets what she wants it's like someone hit the "mute" button on her.  She gets real quiet and goes into a trance-like state as she nourishes herself.  Amy got ready to put her into the crib and I went out and got us something to eat.  I returned to find Jada sound asleep and Amy cleaning up from after the ordeal.  We broke bread and looked at each other with relief in our eyes.