What they don't tell you about newborns...

My long lost blog. We meet once again on a rainy day in..October?? Wowza! Time has dropped like sap out of a tree and at the same time flown on by.

I sit her gently rocking too and fro as my sweet angel child slumber a in my arms. Who's that you ask? Why yes we did have s baby! And why no, he's not as angelic as I claim :)  Our son, archer, entered the world on july 14th, two weeks ahead of schedule. The ultimate curious critter, he could not wait to see all this place had to offer. Turns out it was more than he bargained for and quite frankly a bit overwhelming. We should have known that 2nd night of his life, as he wailed in anguish over a gassy belly, that we were in for it! Not all babies are unicorns and rainbows. In fact, some have all the little struggles, not just one or two.  Time to get real yall! Archer spent the first 7 weeks of life screaming in distress. We, as parents, of course were also totally overwhelmed (particularly mommy). Worry enveloped our minds as we struggled to remedy our sobbing infants problems.

It's a bad latch.
It's gas.
It's silent reflux.
It's an oversupply of milk.
It's a forceful letdown of milk.
It's colic.
He's high needs.

We ran the gammut of "it must bes" and even had him on baby Zantac for a week. Let's just take a smidge of time here to say...what the humph are people thinking making infant medicines taste like "strong peppermint". Disgusting. Even an adult wouldn't like that. Then, then! Well mask it with grape to try and overpower that sweet minty goodness. Blech! I pity any child (and family) who has to consistently use infant Zantac for reflux. With that said, our baby did not have silent reflux. He slept in his back at night and slept pretty well all things considered.

Our little buddy had the hardest time getting to sleep during the day. Those first 6 weeks were BRUtal! I bounced on an exercise ball as he screamed in my ear. I prayed for help, I prayed for relief for both myself and arch man, I prayed for sanity, anything. Everything. I pleaded with God with the fervor of Moses pleading for the Israelites. I could not understand why we were having such a hard time. Now by this point my poor tater baby was exhausted from all crying, no sleep. I started going into the dark bathroom to bounce him with white noise blaring through the darkness. This worked!

That leads us to the 2nd stage of brutality. We eventually put up black out curtains and I spent the following 7 weeks in the dark nursery bouncing. White noise screaming. And occasionally Netflix once archer was way out asleep. He would wake the nanosecond I attempted to lay him down or even move off the ball, to rest my back in the glider. My parents visited during this stage and my mother reminded me how victims of torture are treated: solitary confinement, no sunlight, loud noises, physical pain, sleep deprivation. So, fantastic! I was being tortured. (Ok a bit extreme.. but is it?)

As the days passed by, my dear babe grew into a man, and I bounced him off to college. Okay of course not, but he did become a very heavy baby. At a 12 week doctors appointment he weighed 14 lbs and that's when I knew... I could not sustain holding my baby for every nap, hours of the day, on an exercise ball. My back was in agonizing pain, so I transitioned to the glider. Enter stage 3 of brutality. Screaming! Oh, the screaming. Tater baby did not want to be rocked. "Bouncing only mom", he said in ear piercing squeals.  But eventually he gave in (somewhat). This is our current state, where he fights sleep unlike any thing I've ever seen. Worse than those sad toddlers who are so exhausted but trying to accomplish a task (eating, playing, coloring). He cries himself to sleep eventually. All while I jiggle, rock, pat, and shush him into drowsiness.

Now you've read a snippet of our life for the last 3.5 months. There is oh so much more, but I'll let that soak in for the optimal full experience to come. Perhaps I'll even delve into my birth center birth experience for you. (Don't fret, it was actually an amazing natural birth) My physicians determined archer was simply a "high needs" baby. And Dr. Sears knows his stuff, because he describes my baby to a T! Demanding babies that end up empathetic and full of independent leadership qualities.  So there is hope for him in the long future. We have it rough but we do finally have lots of smiles, easy breastfeeding, a mostly healthy tank of a boy who is attentive to his surroundings with killer neck control (I believe from arching back crying so much cause tummy time never happens round these parts).  I love him to death and could kiss his face off, even when it's grumpy as an old man or red as a tomato.