It's been an busy couple weeks since I wrote last. Life has been unrelentingly interesting.
Note that these are events over the past three weeks, not the past week. Life has been busy, but it hasn't been THAT insane.
(Forgive the fact that the formatting isn't as nice as usual. A constant nursing lifestyle means I'm using my phone instead of my laptop).
1.) Water Woes.
A few days ago, our water pump for our well stopped working.
We called a repair man, he said he "might" be able to come out that afternoon, if not then, the next day.
The well ends up turning back on spontaneously later that day. Repair man shows up a couple days later and replaces a corroded switch. Everything seems right with the world.
Well, sometime late last night, the well stopped working again. It's now several hours into the morning, the repair place has yet to respond, and chances of a repeat spontaneous reversion to working status seem low.
Thank goodness we already had some water stashed in jugs, or this would be a VERY long day (it'll probably still be long, but at least we shouldn't have to leave the house to get water for awhile).
2.) Tongue Tied
When Bitty Baby was born, the midwife said, "she has a tongue tie. You need to go get that taken care of as soon as you can."
So that's how we found ourselves sitting in a pediatric dental waiting room for an hour a few days after birth. Chris was able to come with me, thank goodness, and I got the chance to find out that the Disney Channel plays a very strange girly superhero cartoon that seems to be the result of some people in France trying to recapture the magic of Sailor Moon with a lady bug motif and an awkward puppy love romance (seriously...it's pretty odd).
We finally got to see the dentist, who took one look, said, "yep, that's a 100% tongue tie, right to the tip", made sure we wanted the procedure, then immediately got the room set up. The whole thing from diagnosis to the end of treatment took maybe 15 minutes.
They don't let the parents into the room during the procedure. You hand your tiny baby to a person in two types of paper smocking, eye protection, and a face shield, then they close the door and you listen to your baby scream and their efforts to soothe them for several minutes.
It was not pleasant, but at least they were quick.
Bitty Baby was VERY angry when we tried to nurse later and she realized something was different. She didn't seem to be in pain: it was that something was different with her mouth and she did NOT appreciate it. It took a couple hours of repeat tries and walking around the room singing and bouncing before she calmed down enough to figure out how to latch again.
The whole thing was stressful, but worth it. With Little Girl, nursing was PAINFUL for the first several months (I'm talking skin missing, cracks, blood, thrush...it was a little traumatic), and never really a pleasant experience for the full two years. With Little Boy, we eventually figured it out, but it was a painful experience for the first few weeks too.
With Bitty Baby, that pattern started to repeat itself-- I was starting to lose skin and it was getting painful. Within just a couple days of the procedure though, my nipples were healing and since then it hasn't been painful or difficult to nurse at all. It's been LOVELY to not have to deal with that; that was one of the hardest parts of post partum life for me.
3.) In Sickness and in Health
About a week after I gave birth, Chris started to feel "off".
We figured it was emotional/physical hangover from the birth and adjusting to life with a new baby in the house. Not uncommon to feel a little run down after there's a major life event, right?
Well, it stuck around for a few days, and then, one night, he got a really bad fever. The type that comes with chills so bad you can barely move. The next morning the fever was still there, and he couldn't really pee when he went to the bathroom.
A couple phone calls later, we're dropping the older kids off at my parents' house and me, Bitty Baby, and Chris are driving to an ER (he couldn't drive, I could, so that's just what it had to be).
Turns out he had a really, REALLY bad UTI that showed up out of nowhere. He had to get an antibiotic shot, a full round of oral antibiotics, and a weird medication that turned his pee bright orange (and apparently tinted other bodily fluids as well: he couldn't wear his contacts for a week because the meds could dye them orange too).
He was under the weather for a couple days. I am extremely thankful that recovery from this birth has been easier than my last two: my energy levels have been coming up, and no stitches. I was able to take the reins back with meals and childcare for awhile relatively easily.
4.) Summer Splashing
We bought a $24 ten foot inflatable pool, and it's been a pretty good investment. Chris came up with the genuinely bright idea of using our shade structure (it's the type you see over tables at community events) over it at an angle and it's downright luxurious out there in the evening (other than the mosquitoes, but nothing is perfect).
I haven't gotten a chance to use it (baby duty; it's a little too deep and cold for a newborn), but the older kids have worn themselves out swimming in it a couple times now.
5.) Birthday
Little Boy had a birthday this month.
He got to go out to lunch with grandparents, had presents at home, and I managed to make pretzel dogs (actually kind of proud of that: they're a bit involved) and a chocolate cake from a boxed mix and decorate it with sliced strawberries.
So, a quiet birthday but I think a pleasant one for him. We have a lot of leftover cake in the freezer now, so I don't need to make dessert for any feast days for awhile.
6.) Fishes we Have Loved and Lost
One of little boy's presents was a fish: a pet he can be solely responsible for and take care of.
We went to the pet store as a family on Little Boy's birthday, purchased some blue gravel, a red plastic plant, and a rosy red minnow (they were out of goldfish). We came home and set the little fellow up in a clean gallon pickle jar. Little Boy named him "Spot".
He seemed to be a very active fish. He kept going right up to the surface of the water and biting it and darting around the jar.
The next morning, from the kitchen, we hear Little Boy giggling madly. "Mom! Dad! Spot is swimming upside down!!"
Crap.
Sure enough, there was a sad, pale, lifeless little creature floating upside down in the jar. Little Boy got a quick lesson on the nature of mortality and we found ourselves at another pet store in very short order, purchasing a goldfish (they were in stock this time), some water conditioner and a small water filter (turns out a fish biting at the top of the water is a sign of oxygen deprivation, and untreated well water is unfit for keeping fish).
The new fish is named "Gil", and lives in the most decked out pickle jar I've ever seen.
He has survived thus far.
7). Adjustments
The kids love their new sister. There hasn't been any resentment or sibling rivalry: they're genuinely thrilled she's part of the family.
Unfortunately, they express this by wanting to be in almost constant physical or very close proximate contact with her. And already almost touched out me (who's almost always holding or nursing her) is having a difficult time dealing with it.
"Honey, please back up "
"Sweetheart, you need to stop touching her, she's sleeping"
(In scary Hulk voice) "GET OFF OF ME!! BACK UP!!"
And then I feel like a total heel who's blocking a relationship between siblings and possibly fostering resentment. It's rough.
Luckily Bitty Baby has gotten a little better at sleeping in a separate room from me for a little while, so sometimes I can spend some time with the older kids. This aspect of adjusting to baby has probably been the most difficult though. Emotionally, anyway. It seems like we'll pull through it ok though.
Pyridium is the medication that turns urine an orange color. (I've had it a few times.)
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