the time has come the walrus said to talk of other things...

...of snot and poop and leaky boobs...
...of cabbages and kings...

this post involves some t.m.i.about bodily fluids.  don't read it if you will be grossed out or offended.

Completely un-related....Oh my gosh a cow!

This week has had a lot of bodily fluids and not a lot of sleep.  E has her first day-care cold.  Our trusty nasal aspirator has been working over time as of late.  Monday night Ken and I awoke to horrible, first time parent heart-attack inducing, choking, gasping, gurgling sounds.  E had a booger caught in her throat and was having trouble clearing it.  We suctioned, and cuddled and nursed and went back to sleep...only to continue to snuffle terribly.  Ken took her for the early shift and cat napped on the couch from 1-4:30am, suctioning out her nose every so often.

Tuesday night I took the baby duty while daddy slept in the guest room.  It was an all night game of 'sleep peacefully just long enough for mommy to start to drift off, then cough or snuffle or make the previously referenced terrible noises.'  I was up for most of the night. 

Wednesday was a repeat of Monday with the only difference being Ken smartly went to bed around 9 so he was better prepared for the ugly shift.



Thankfully E doesn't act sick at day care.
That boy staring at me wants to be E's
first boyfriend.  Daddy already gave
him the daddy talk.

Thursday night...she slept, quietly and woke up at 3am to nurse with just a little stuffiness.  I thought to myself "yes! we made it through, she's getting better.  we didn't freak out like first time parents, we handled it without even a call to the nurses' line!"  and then I merrily suctioned her nose and pulled out a giant bright red booger followed by bloody bubbles. Which was of course followed by the obligatory first time parent heart attack and call to the nurses line.

So according to the nurses' line; under three months, low fever (99.0) and bloody boogers = Dr's visit.  appointment scheduled for 8:30 am to rule out a sinus infection.  Ken took her in (12lbs, 9 oz)  no fever, just a cold.  Put saline drops in to ease the nasal irritation, which should make the bleeding go away.  Buy a humidifier (which I find ironic since we live in one of the most humid places in the US) and keep suctioning her as needed.

Two side effects of this cold are that she is sleeping a lot more than normal and therefore not eating as much an it has also led to her not pooping as often, but when she does it's prolific.  All the mucus she is swallowing has upset her stomach so she has runnier than normal poops and for the first time they smell awful.  This prolific pooping has caused some containment issues on the part of her diapers resulting in a lot of changes of clothing both for her and for me.

And finally since she is not eating as much I'm having leaky boob issues; like soak through the shields, wake up in a wet t-shirt issues. The plus side is I can now give Victoria's secret models  run for their money.  The down side is they are so engorged they hurt me and so much pressure has built up in them is is harder for her to eat because it is akin to trying to drink from a fire hose .  We dealt with these issues when we first started nursing so we know all the tricks to minimize the choking, but it still happens.  This also results in her swallowing more are because she releases and re-latches repeatedly to avoid the choking.  more air = more bubbles in the tummy = more spit up and gassy fussiness.  So she's gotten me with spit up a few times and had some rough bouts of gas.



All bodily fluids aside...I can't get enough of this sweet baby!

This post took all day to write and in the course of writing this post she has blown out a diaper on me.  taken a nap on me.  during said nap she drooled so much that the left side of my pants were soaked in drool and then peed so much that the right side of my pants were similarly soaked but in urine and she slept so long I had to change shirts, twice.  When she finally awoke she ate and choked on let down twice, and then peed on me again, then proceeded to cover my shoulder in spit up- some how missing the bib and burp cloth.  Then right before bed she peed through yet another diaper...I think we need to switch diaper brands.  And i finally had the time to sit down and pump. 7 minutes and 9 ounces later I feel much relief and will probably be able to sleep tonight and hopefully wake up in a dry shirt.