First Month

Miss Bristol's first month was a great one!

 She had her first bath!  Of course, big bro had to help out with that!

 She really liked the water.  

 Even when Joey dumped it over her head!

Bristol weighed 12 lbs at her one month checkup!  That is 3 lbs, 8 oz. in one month!  This put her over the 95th percentile in weight! Get it girl!   

She measured 22 inches long, which is the 90th percentile for length.   

She still has a clogged tear duct.  

The doctor also confirmed that B has colic.  Nothing that really can be done besides waiting it out.  :(  The doc did prescribe some drops to help alleviate B's pain.  We tried these drops and did not see much of a difference.  I decided to stop giving her these drops because of the side effects that can occur in infants!  Scary stuff.   

Joey loves his sister so much.  Joey wants to hold B everyday and kiss and hug her when she's sad.   

Bristol loves the heat!  When all of us were at our threshold for heat, she seemed to soak it up!  She slept great outside.  I joked that I was going to set up a hammock outside and sleep out there with her at night.   

Bristol had tons of visitors her first month!  My mom took photos of B and everyone that visited her.  That means that I have 1 million pics of her with friends and family.  This also means that I will not be posting all of those pics on this blog.  If you want to see your picture with B, let me know and I'll email it to you.  

We are co-sleeping right now.  Like I said, Bristol does not like to be put down.  Ever.  I need to get sleep. This means that we sleep together, with my boob in her mouth all night long.  *Sigh*  Not what I want at all, but when you're kid has been crying for 3 hours, you'll do anything to make her happy and allow both of you to get some sleep.  

It has been quite different changing a little girl's diaper versus a boys.  When I first changed her diaper, I was shocked at how swollen everything looked down there.  I even asked my friend if it was supposed to look like that down there!  Ha ha!  I'm also not used to the pee going down versus shooting straight up in the air.  Serious learning curve!

 I must admit it is nice to play dress up.  Pink bows and frilly things are a nice change of pace.  Don't worry, Bristol, I'll get this out of my system before you start kindergarten. 

 Tummy time=pissed off time.  

 This is B's "O" face, aka. I'm pooping!  It's hilarious!

 One more time!  Better out than in, especially when you have severe gas/stomach problems!

Happy one month birthday, little Bristol!  

The C Word

When you become a parent, you learn about this little five-letter word that every parent dreads to hear.  This word alone can make any parent shiver with fear.   

 Colic.  According to the Mayo Clinic website, "Colic is often defined as crying more than three hours a day, three days a week for more than three weeks in an otherwise well-fed, healthy baby. What is most important for the diagnosis is sustained crying in an otherwise healthy baby for a regular period of the day lasting for several weeks."

Bristol was fine the first week or so of life.  Then, the screaming for hours began.  It is horrible!  I'm a researcher.  There has to be a reason for things.  A child just can't cry because of nothing.  Since I'm nursing Bristol, I eliminated dairy from my diet.  That seemed to help a little bit, but did not completely eradicate the crying.  I made sure to feed B from the same boob throughout the day, just in case I was producing too much foremilk (which causes baby not to get the fatty and much needed hindmilk).  This did not eliminate the crying, either.  

After a week or so of her colic spells, I lost it.  My child has colic.  There's nothing I can do to help my little lady, but just be there for her.  We have 3 months to deal with this.  WTH.  Not only is this hard on me and everyone around, but it's so hard on Bristol.  You can tell her belly hurts her so much.  Her stomach is hard, she's super gassy, and just not comfortable.  Nothing consoles her.  Her longest crying spell has lasted from 9 PM until 330 AM!  It was horrible for all of us.  I can tell you that one of the most frustrating things to go through as a parent is not being able to alleviate your child's pain, especially when they don't understand what is going on.  Heartbreaking.  

We have tried so many things to help ease the pain.  Gripe water, warm bottle warmer, laying her on her tummy, bicycle exercises, car rides, swaddling, shhhhing, slight shaking, bouncing, swinging, singing, everything!  Some things work, some don't.  The thing that works one night, does not work the next night.    I can't tell you how many times I cry right along with Bristol.  I cry for her and from my own exhaustion and frustrations.  I really hate to wish my child's life away, but I cannot wait until the 3-month mark, October 12th, gets here.  :(