This post has absolutely nothing to do with India but everything to do with just living. Flip was finally on board to send her mum mums to her cousin, Baby Cate, who really isn't so much of a baby any more but that doesn't matter. We wrote a letter, stuck the pacifiers in an envelope, and "mailed" them to Georgia.
If you were not with us when we first brought Flip home, let me catch you up to speed. It was hell. It was heartbreaking. It was backbreaking. It was frustrating. It was terribly painful. It was a sleepless time. Flip cried for an hour before passing out for 45 minutes, only to wake and start it all over again. She didn't care if it were the moon or sun''s turn in the sky. And right from the beginning, Flip was a Momma's girl. After a night of absolutely no sleep I would pass her to Marvel for one more hour of shut eye before he had to go to work and she would wail as if all of her previous painful separations in her short little life were coming back to haunt her. Or that is at least how this guilt ridden mom felt. The only way to get her back to sleep was to give her a bottle and hope she fell asleep so I could do some fancy Spiderman moves to lay her down as gently as a snowflake on a hot burning coal. Sometimes she suckled so much her little belly rebelled and she returned it all, but still the only thing to get her to quiet back down was yet another bottle.
So, enter the mum mum. I worked hard to get this girl to take to the mum mum. I put it in my mouth and sucked on it. We took turns sucking and laughing. We took turns pulling it out of each other's mouths. I think I sucked on more silicon than a porn star, but it worked! She took to it and finally we could travel in the car without her wailing her head off. Stroller rides were no longer restricted to how long the teething biscuit lasted. And most importantly, sleep was easier. We were down from 5 bottles at night to 2 and at times I actually got 2 hours of uninterrupted sleep.
Now here we are 3 years later saying good bye to this blessed piece of plastic. And once again it is hellish. We are playing musical beds shuffling Flip the Great Fighter of Sleep back and forth between the two of us. Last night she woke 10-12 times and there was nothing that could help. I could hear the girl sucking on the absent mum mum and I think it was one of the saddest sounds I have heard in a while.
It has been a while but I find myself going back to the new mother mantra- This too will pass. But I am not a new mother. I am a 8 year veteran mother saying, "This better pass in a week's time."
If you were not with us when we first brought Flip home, let me catch you up to speed. It was hell. It was heartbreaking. It was backbreaking. It was frustrating. It was terribly painful. It was a sleepless time. Flip cried for an hour before passing out for 45 minutes, only to wake and start it all over again. She didn't care if it were the moon or sun''s turn in the sky. And right from the beginning, Flip was a Momma's girl. After a night of absolutely no sleep I would pass her to Marvel for one more hour of shut eye before he had to go to work and she would wail as if all of her previous painful separations in her short little life were coming back to haunt her. Or that is at least how this guilt ridden mom felt. The only way to get her back to sleep was to give her a bottle and hope she fell asleep so I could do some fancy Spiderman moves to lay her down as gently as a snowflake on a hot burning coal. Sometimes she suckled so much her little belly rebelled and she returned it all, but still the only thing to get her to quiet back down was yet another bottle.
So, enter the mum mum. I worked hard to get this girl to take to the mum mum. I put it in my mouth and sucked on it. We took turns sucking and laughing. We took turns pulling it out of each other's mouths. I think I sucked on more silicon than a porn star, but it worked! She took to it and finally we could travel in the car without her wailing her head off. Stroller rides were no longer restricted to how long the teething biscuit lasted. And most importantly, sleep was easier. We were down from 5 bottles at night to 2 and at times I actually got 2 hours of uninterrupted sleep.
Now here we are 3 years later saying good bye to this blessed piece of plastic. And once again it is hellish. We are playing musical beds shuffling Flip the Great Fighter of Sleep back and forth between the two of us. Last night she woke 10-12 times and there was nothing that could help. I could hear the girl sucking on the absent mum mum and I think it was one of the saddest sounds I have heard in a while.
It has been a while but I find myself going back to the new mother mantra- This too will pass. But I am not a new mother. I am a 8 year veteran mother saying, "This better pass in a week's time."
was such a bad time because no one could help, no tried and true ways of sleep would work, nuthin'.
ReplyDeleteG and some pattern changes just don't mix, but look how lovely things are now? i am sure this too will pass...
C
Thanks, Cathleen, for your comment. Nice to know you are reading. Remember that time we were on the porch having some super big pours of wine and I was so excited it took only 45 minutes to get G to sleep?
ReplyDeleteIt is passing slowly. She is just very set in her ways and she always has in her mind the way things should go and if reality doesn't match up she fights back. Rohit has taken over night time sleeping duty which is freaking AWESOME!