Chloe was doing just fine yesterday when I rode her around in the stroller at 5pm. It was all going fine, then, she got home. Within an hour she began just crying her ass off. You put yourself through the rounds doing the usual when this happens, check the diaper, feed her, check the temp, stuff like that. None of the usuals were the case. She was still crying.
It is hour 2 of the crying session. Only picking her up and walking her around is working at this point to settle her down. This is the start of the Krug families process (Including Tracy) of determining that is is a problem that needs to be fixed. The first approach they always have is to take her to a doctor, because it must be something medical. This phase drives me nuts not for the rationale, but for the fact that it is something a doctor needs to check out every single time she farts the wrong way. They are very protective of her, and I love that, but obviously, it comes at an overcautious cost.
We are now on to hour 4 of the session, Lisa (Tracy's sister) has already walked into the house and fled as fast as she walked in when she found Chloe crying incessantly. That makes me angry when she does that. She has her moments when she really is a bad Aunt. Chloe is at her time of the day when she really need to settle down an sleep for the night. She isn't backing down from this crying session yet, walking her around isn't working not. With no tools left in our working knowledge, we have run outta things to do but give her the nightly bath and hope that the routine triggers her mode of going to sleep.
The bath didn't work. We are now on to hour 7 of the nightmare. It is the phase when all you can do is hold her and try to comfort her. It isn't working, and after hours of this, it gets really frustrating. You remind yourself every minute that it isn't Chloe's fault, this is the only way she can tell you that something's wrong. Tracy's take on it is exactly this after being 2 hours late for bed at this point. My take on it is different, what if it is Chloe's way of telling us that she wants to be carried around and cuddled all night because she doesn't want to sleep yet? I don't think either of us have the answers to this at this juncture... Tracy is holding her on the futon trying to get her to sleep. She begins to complain that she needs sleep to work at school tomorrow (Which is really today already...), I encourage her to go to bed, and I start to prepare the pillow bundle on the futon so I can make a haphazard bed arrangement for myself. Discussions of taking her in to the doctor first thing in the am are the new discussion. I find myself asking the same question as always, are we wasting our time being ultra paranoid taking here to the doctor yet again? This would be the possibly 5th false alarm if we are wrong once again. The broad coverage statement is always the same, you can't go wrong taking her in, but don't plan on doing anything else but sitting in an ER for 8 hours. I fucking hate that ER....
Hour 9, after a few hours on the futon, my arm is numb, from Chloe's head on it. She is out cold, but every time I shuffle even the slightest, it shows me that she is not that deeply asleep, she moans, cries for a minute, then falls back asleep. I realize now that I am furious at Tracy for forcing me to deal with this situation all night. She is a few feet away snoring, and I want to whack her on the head with the hardest thing in reach, which is a pillow, oh well, what's the point of that, where will that get me... I set her down, I need to go to the bathroom. Within one minute she has completely come unglued once again, forcing me to go through the usual routine once again, food, diaper. The usuals. She seems to have calmed down, I place her back into her crib, making the decision that this futon idea is complete bullshit and we are wasting our time. She falls back asleep, grumbling and a scattered sob every 10-15 minutes.
Hour 12, realizing that she has slept consistently for over 3 hours made me come to the revelation that there possibly may be a God, and I shouldn't of said so many things to him (or her) last night in anger. Working on 3 hours of sleep feels rejuvenating, considering in retrospect how the prior hours went. She wakes up, and it seems more typical, she just hungry and wet, she doesn't appear to have an axe to grind after all.
Hours 12-15, Chloe has once again taken consistent naps, one of lasting over an hour and a half. Needing to look at jobs online, and get computers ordered for the FOP, I decide to take her to daycare, 3 hours later than usual so I can get my stuff done, and then pick her up ASAP. The inevitable doctor appointment is set for 4:50 today. The doc is going to tell us as usual, that she just had a fussy night, and we need to cope with it. But Tracy will not accept that from anyone else but a doctor, and when he says it, she still won't agree. Lose-lose...
Tomorrows doctor appointment will be to do an ultrasound on Chloe, after she has been spitting up bottles, sometimes 1-2 ounces or so about once a day. Tracy made it sound a bit more violent that the situation really was when she spits up, so that's where the doctor sends us. I hope it is nothing out of the norm. But I can't help but worry The situation is probably bent way out of proportion, but we have to cover the bases...
I am going to bed now, good night...
