Tooth: As last reported, we've been thinking Zoe has been teething...and found that we might be right - her top right front tooth seems on the verge of making its appearance. The tell-tale hardness just below the gum is there, and with it came some otherwise unexplained !fussiness! Wednesday and Thursday evenings. Oh, and she started to bite me every (single!) time she nursed. Seems, though, that her new-found understanding of 'no' left a lasting impression on the whole nursing experience and by Thursday evening, she really wasn't into nursing....at all.
Crud: Either in conjunction with her teething, or related to something daycare-born, bug brought home a bug that she was fending off last week. There were a few times she seemed to be a little warm, but otherwise, aside from the nursing fussiness, she seemed fine. I, however, went to bed Wednesday night with a knowing ache in the back of my throat and woke to a full blown case of the crud. Too bad I was scheduled to conduct a training and then present to the Seattle School District with my boss....so off to work I went. However, best intentions had to be cast aside when I spiked a fever mid-morning....so off to bed I went.
Strike: I can only assume that the nasty convergence of teething, being yelled at for biting (well, not really yelled at, but drama is heightened with the little ones) and our shared cold were what what contributed to Zoe's boycotting nursing almost all together and my subsequently waning milk supply. Every feed turned into a battle in which I'd try to coerce Zoe to feed, would finally get her on, and then fail to let down because of all the stress. I couldn't even get a letdown by pumping. Come Sunday afternoon, I was beside myself with the fear that nursing was over and done with for Zoe and I only 9 months into it. I was upset, Zoe was confused and Dave was at a total loss.
Fortunately, although I was pretty tired and not sure I was up to it, we had committed to babysitting our friends' daughter, Lucy so that they could have some grown-up time last night. After a bit of catch-up-chit-chat, I confessed to Danika (Lucy's mom) what was going on. Danika, bless her heart, said "Oh, she's on strike. Don't give up. I've heard of some babies working through it." So matter-of-factly, but so RIGHT! Instantly, my whole outlook changed. So, later that evening Zoe and I went on to have a beautiful (beautiful!) feed. Mind you I prepped by pumping to a let down before going in to her, but still! I was elated and RELIEVED. This morning we had another beautiful (beautiful!) feed to put us on the right foot for the rest of the day. I went on to pump a bunch of milk while at work (something that has been increasingly harder and harder to do) and came home to a very happy baby.
Tonight's bed time was a little rocky, but after a tiny struggle over the feed, she was nursed to enough satisfaction to go down and crash. I'm certainly satisfied.
I guess I just can't believe just how stressful it is when things change so rapidly and with frustrating reason (ie, colds, teething and biting) and not at all because you're ready. Oh I know this is only foreshadowing of the rest of my life as a mother - that there will always be outside, and sometimes unidentifiable inside forces at work on the peace and happiness of my family, but this is all so new and I'm just getting a handle on it.
What's crazy, too, about this whole weekend, is how emotional it was. How happy and hard. Like when Lucy was here last night, she was pretty upset about being put down by near strangers in a strange place, but seemed to get some consolation in my holding her. While I was trying to soothe her, I realized just how different every single baby really is and just how well I do know my own. It actually helped keep me calm with Lucy to simultaneously realize that with all the hard spots in this growing up and rearing business, moms and dads and their babies really are made for each other.
Boycotting a nap Saturday morning
Blowing raspberries with dad (note the spittle spatter on dad's shirt and glasses ;)
Entertaining Anasatasia at dinner on Saturday...
and Lucy Waddell at dinner on Sunday
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