Hospitals, Naps, Fried Eggs and Ice Cream

It's inevitable that the moment I sit down to write an entry, my daughter starts crying. In fact, the moment I try to do anything that doesn't involve her, she starts crying. But this entry isn't about me feeling sorry for myself. It's actually about two things. The hospital and my epic failure.

First of all, the hospital. If I was given a dollar for every time I have been to the hospital in the past year, I would be rich. In fact, I would use the money to pay off the bills that the hospital keeps sending me because of how much time I spend there. And this isn't even for emergency stuff! With all the prenatal, postnatal, PT, and baby check-ups, I spend more of my time at the hospital than any other place with the exception of my apartment. I know. It's pathetic. You would think that my social life was there or something. Which is partly true, since Dan (long time friend and patient transporter) and Jenny (friend and RN in labor and delivery) both work there...

Secondly, my epic failure. I read a book on babies earlier this week and concluded that Lexi is a little behind in the eating and napping department. Apparently by 8 weeks babies should be eating every four hours and be on a regular napping schedule. Lexi is 10 weeks and can barely make it to two hours with eating and naps erratically throughout the day, but sleeps 7-10 hours a night. Of course, since I would LOVE to have a more predictable schedule so I can plan my day accordingly and get some semblance of things done, I decided to train my baby.

I had a system all worked out and was going to follow the book and do exactly what it said. But as fate would have it, I ended up setting myself up for complete and utter failure. In fact, I feel pretty good about placing the blame on everything else instead of thinking that it was my fault. And for good reason too.

On Tuesday night, the day before the training was to begin, I came down with a severe headache. Despite all of the pain meds I was gulping down, this headache persisted through Friday evening - only giving me occasional breaks here and there before it came blasting back to throb my skull.

Wednesday, Thursday and Friday were pretty much the hottest days of this summer. Wednesday and Thursday gearing us up for the fry-your-eggs-on-the-sidewalk Friday. YOU try training a baby with a headache and no air conditioning in an apartment that feels like its 90 degrees!

Wednesday was tough, but I was consistent in what I did with Alexandria - pushing her feedings to every 3 hours as well as laying her down in her crib for a nap while she is awake (so she learns to put herself to sleep). I was exhausted by the end of the day, but Lexi went to bed for the night at 8 o'clock and it made me hopeful that Thursday would be much better.

Wishful thinking.

Thursday was HOT. Lexi was with a babysitter in the morning while I was at the hospital for an appointment (go figure), so was completely off of her "schedule" for the rest of the day. Not to mention the fact that her bedroom/closet that she sleeps in felt like you could bake muffins in it, so I let her nap on the living room floor with a box fan blowing on her. By noon of Thursday, I was done trying to pretend that she was ready for a nap schedule and threw it out. Where it went, I don't know. It probably ended up with the book that claims Lexi should be taking 3 or 4 naps every day that are at least 1 1/2 to 2 hours long. Smart guy. I'm lucky if she sleeps 30 minutes. And the book never tells you how to teach the baby to extend her naps. They just assume your baby is as perfect as theirs. Seriously.

Anyway, although I didn't work on the naps anymore, I was still trying to only feed her every 3 hours. Eric wasn't a huge fan of this, since he had to hear her fussing, but he isn't the one nursing his life away.

Friday.

Hottest day of the summer. Throbbing, nauseating headache. Fussy baby because of the heat. Also the day of Lexi's two month appointment (yes, at the hospital again) at which she received 5 shots. "She's going to be pretty fussy today and will have a low grade fever. Her legs will also be sore where she got the shots. Just so you know," says her Pediatrician. Wonderful.

If you were a fly on the wall of our living room yesterday, you would have seen us sitting on the couch under the ceiling fan with a box fan blowing on our legs. All day. I think I moved four times. Maybe. You probably didn't see more than that because Lily would have eaten you by that time. Thankfully, Lexi's body was so busy processing all that new stuff that she slept for most of the day in her swing with a fan blowing on her. Whenever she woke up and moved her legs, though, we got to hear the blood curdling Lexi scream. It was fun. Not to mention the fact that I threw the "every 3 hours" thing out the window with the other stuff and went back to every 2. Which as you moms know, is really every 1.5 hours.

But my life is not all bad, because last night, much to our happiness and physical relief, we had an air conditioning unit installed in our bedroom window!!! We spent the rest of the evening chillin' in the cool air and are much happier and better rested because of it! And my headache has finally left me for while. Plus, Eric made me an ice cream sundae. Which made life a whole lot happier.

And that is why I blame my failure on everything else other than me. (I know. Real mature.)

I still am in the dark as far as babies and their naps go, but at least there is ice cream in the freezer.