The Demon Called Colic

You'll notice that I haven't been blogging as much as usual and even when I do, the posts have been somewhat short in length. Now obviously most would realize that once baby comes into the picture priorities shift and blogging gets put to the side sometimes. But that's not the only reason. No, the biggest reason why I haven't been blogging as much is because my baby has colic. Which means that for the most part I no longer have much free time. And when I do get breaks, I have to decide between all the other things that I've been having to put off and blogging isn't very high on the to-do list lately.

I remember when Mallory hit two weeks old, I felt as if those two weeks had been two years. I was emotionally and physically exhausted. I probably cried more in those two weeks than I have all year combined. I was definitely not enjoying becoming a parent. I knew going in to parenthood it wasn't supposed to be easy, but I honestly didn't think it was going to be as hard as it was for Jody and I. We had more than one moment where we thought that something had to be wrong with Mallory and even contacted the doctor just to make sure one of those times. Then Mallory turned three weeks old and instead of the progress towards good days ahead that we saw, things got a little harder. That's when colic decided to rear its ugly head and possess our child. Do they have exorcists to get rid of the demon called colic? No? Well, they should.

There's no sugar-coating it, the past week has been taxing. When we first realized she had colic, I wondered if we were being punished for doing something wrong. Was me having to deal with a difficult labor and delivery and then the breast feeding trouble and then the hellish first two weeks not enough? Now we have colic to face? I know that God never gives us more than we can handle, but good grief. The majority of colicky babies are so until at least three months, sometimes up to four or six. Booooo.

We still have good moments, but never an entire good day. A friend of mine turned me to Dr. Harvey Karp's book The Happiest Baby On The Block where I learned about The 5 S's. We use all of them when Mallory has her episodes and honestly, they help big time. Not all of the time, but most times we are able to console her even if it is only for a brief moment. She definitely wants to be held a lot more often which has made my to-do list a little harder to get to. My arms are getting a good workout though, that's for sure. Feeding her can be a chore and sometimes lasts for up to an hour because she gets so worked up that we have to pause multiple times so she stops choking down air. She'll start screaming out of nowhere as if though someone just pinched her even if we're in the middle of having a fun time. As a mom, it's heartbreaking to hear my little girl crying so furiously and there's nothing that I can do to make it stop. Researchers say that colic isn't painful for babies but it sure looks like she's in pain sometimes.

Thankfully Jody and I have had each others help this past month, but starting tomorrow he goes back to work and I'm on my own. No more being relieved in the morning so I can go sleep for a few hours. No more having someone to watch her while I go take a shower and get ready to feel like a normal person. No more being able to go run a couple errands while he supervises. No more taking turns dealing with the colicky moments. But hey, I knew this moment would come. I know I'll get the hang of things and have a routine soon enough. I'm sure that I'll have my days of pure frustration and shed some tears alongside Mallory, but now that I've had a week to get a taste of the demon called colic, I no longer dread each day. One day at a time.