Going on four weeks, and we have learned a lot about what to do and what not to do with a new baby in the house. I think the most profound lesson we have had is the one about being burped. We have both spent our fair share of time around babies aged 0 to 50. We have even observed parents in the process of burping. Once or twice we have even helped. We never knew how important it was.
“Air” in the “system” is painful for a baby. I know that now. I am not sure I will recover from gaining that knowledge. When I say painful I mean “sounds like she’s being ripped apart” painful. For some reason this Friday and Saturday Andrea struggled with her digestion. We don’t know what triggered it. Maybe we didn’t burp her well enough at one feeding. Who knows. It first she was crying a little as she was fighting air in the system. Then she was struggling a little more, and after a while she was screaming her self out of air. It lasted only for a few minutes, but those were, by a significant margin, the worst minutes of my life. I think both of Andreas parents are going to need year long PTSD treatment. Saturday was the same. These are the only two days I have struggled. Not because of stress but because of helplessness. Hearing my daughter in so much pain and being unable to do anything about it was hard. Really, really hard.
I didn’t take pictures at the time. I promise I didn’t. I was trying to help. The pictures below are from a different situation. Some pain here too, but only for a few seconds, once air was passed she was back to normal. The amazing thing about the pictures though is that there is two seconds from the fist to the second. From bliss to badness.
I am looking forward to this not being an issue. I think I can take just about anything better than I could take that little girl being in so much pain.
Andrea 