Thank You For Being a Friend.
Did anyone else notice mysterious episodes of The Golden Girls appearing on their DVR? Scott swears he didn’t set them to record, but the only other explanation is that I am being haunted by the ghost of Estelle Getty. Unless this is some sort of memorial orchestrated by Comcast? I suppose the more likely explanation is that my husband is attempting to gaslight me. Or perhaps I am sleepwalking—you may recall that last year I ended up with a mysterious subscription to Popular Mechanics, a subscription that has yet to be explained. It could be that I am getting up at night, watching Golden Girls, and reading automotive articles. Perhaps I have Multiple Personality Disorder, and my other personalities are an elderly married couple named Edna and Merle.
It has been a difficult evening here. Simone cried for hours for no apparent reason. Not her angry hunger cry, not her usual reflux scream: instead the saddest, most mournful wails and sobs, with REAL TEARS. I could actually feel the fibers of my heart rending. I took her temperature, and it was normal. She had scarcely napped all day, and was obviously exhausted. I managed to nurse her to sleep, only to have her start crying again as soon as I moved my arm. What finally worked was swaddling her in a Miracle Blanket (now that she has outgrown the blankets used for the Gypsy Swaddle I am beginning to appreciate how miraculous these Miracle Blankets really are) and clutching her to me as I crooned—first Fly Me to the Moon, and then endless repetitions of the song I sang to her in the NICU. The song is one my mother used to sing: Hush-a-bye, there’s a fly/We will watch him you and I/How he crawls/Up the walls/Yet he never falls. I sang it again and again during Kangaroo Care, clutching Simone’s be-tubed two-pound body to my chest, and it seems to soothe her even now that she is a very grown up nine pounds, nine ounces.
So what could be the matter? She is 10 weeks adjusted. Is there some sort of 10th-week baby depression and sleep drought that sets in about now? I’m going to have her Prevacid weight-adjusted tomorrow on the off chance that it was reflux related—which reminds me, someone wanted to hear about our long and wearying reflux battle (hopefully in a not-so-long-and-wearying entry), but I will have to get to that tomorrow because what with all the crying I haven’t had any time for studying.
I’m taking a CLEP test on Saturday. IN MATH. I hadn’t initially planned to study for it, as I am taking the “College Mathematics” test, which is more or less the equivalent of “Math for Poets.” I used to teach SAT courses for The Princeton Review, after all—math included. Sure, that was six years ago, but how hard can it be? Ha! Ha ha ha! Oh ho ho!
It turns out I remember very little of this magical number combining science. The last time I took a math class was precalculus in the 10th grade, and I can’t remember what a rational number is, much less what in god’s name I’m supposed to do with an inverse function. Also, for the test I’ll be given access to a graphing calculator, a contraption I’ve never used before. I don’t care for calculators, personally, but for all I know they won’t allow scratch paper and I will have no choice but to contend with all those confounding buttons.
Thus I’m off to stare at equations. I hope you all have a lovely night filled with anything but algebra.
34 Comments
Rational numbers have had a Xanax.
Math was the last thing I had to take to get my degree on the 17 year plan. I hadn’t had algebra in nearly 30 years. It was a bitch. I finally had to sleep with the prof. (Just kidding, she was a nice little Mormon woman who resisted my advances so I got a B instead of an A.)
I feel like I just won the lottery- the first to post! Lucky me. So, “rational number”? “Inverse function”? Is this some sort of new Middle Eastern language I haven’t heard of? Math was never my forte, so to speak, but I can’t imagine doing anything number-related with a newborn. Good luck to you, my friend. May the force be with you. And, I did truly miss you when you were gone recently.
Good luck on your test!! I don’t know what to tell you for Simone possibly just a bad day. Mine has those from time to time and rocking, singing, and more rocking is usually my day. I hope she is better tomorrow.
God that’s a cute baby. I have a theory that preemies are extra cute as a cosmic “sorry, dude” for all they have to go through as babies. But perhaps I’m biased.
Anyway, I was reading and thinking, “prevacid was the problem when Maddie started doing this” and then sure enough, you said it yourself.
My little grasshoppa is all grown up.
Growth spurt??? Bad day??? Mourning for Estelle Getty???? All of the above???
Hopefully, she’ll be more herself tomorrow.
I can do the big four in math, but that’s about it. I took as little as humanly possible in both hs and college. I’m not the math type.
Good luck on your test.
10 weeks? Bad Day? Of course!
The Shaken Baby Syndrome people (dontshake.org) have a whole program about the 10 week crying problem called the “Period of Purple Crying”, wherein they discourage you from letting out your frustration by shaking your baby. They have a little graph with the peak of crying being at 10-12 weeks and then gradually decreasing over the next 6 or so weeks, when you will have an (even more) perfect baby.
Both my kids have had days/nights like that once in a blue moon where you know there’s something… wrong, but you just can’t put your finger on it or adequately sooth them. It seems to resolve itself by the next morning, so hang in there!
I used to love algebra. Then I had a baby and promptly forgot everything I had ever learned. Good luck!
Miracle Blankets saved my sanity I think.
And math? A math test, no less? You get S&M award of the year, because I wouldn’t sit my worst enemies down in front of a math CLEP test. Good luck, you’ll rock it.
Good luck on your test. Remember to stay calm and breathe. Don’t forget to breathe.
Not sure if the following will be helpful, but thought I’d pass it along, just in case. From a blog I read about a homebirthing, breastfeeding mother of (now) 9: Sleeping Babies Q&A.
She is melting down because she didn’t nap and now she’s overtired. Don’t just rely on her to fall asleep, just keep on rocking/swaddling/nursing/whatever you need to do until she has some good naps.
Whenever my son started crying for hours, it was always the reflux medicine not doing the job. Also, my son couldn’t tolerate prevacid. Zegerid was magical stuff for us and I highly recommend it. Reflux is exhausting for everyone. And sleep would go in the crapper too b/c he couldn’t sleep through the pain. Those were rough days so I can feel your pain.
Our girl at 10 weeks started crying at 7 PM, like clockwork, for apparently no reason. Not hunger or pain cries, but sadness and tears, the real deal holyfield.
It became a 3 hour nightly struggle to get her to sleep, involving much standing and swaying and kissing. The evening sadness has only recently subsided, and she’s 12 weeks now. Mysterious baby.
You will ace test. If you don’t, no big deal.
It was the universe. My normally cheerful baby was a crying crankypants last night and wouldn’t go to sleep at bedtime. This is alarming because it’s the first time in 6 months that she’s done that, not including the days she got her shots. But this morning… happy baby again.
Crying baby + acing test (with y for the variable of reflux issues) = rock star mama.
I sang a song to my daughter last night that I used to sing when she was just born and it calmed her down quickly. I love those moments when everything else but you and the baby disappears.
She’s clearly upset about Estelle Getty. And, I think she wants to watch those DVR’d episodes.
Good grief. A mournful baby and Math. That sounds like a crummy kind of night.
I have no baby advice for you, though. I hope it’s better today.
Both of my boys (now 6yrs and 2 yrs) started those evening crying jags at 10 weeks old. It lasted about 2 weeks and then resolved itself. Exhausting - but I’ve read it is very common (possibly due to intestinal discomfort). I remember putting our youngest in a stroller and rolling around our tiny apt for hours in an effort to calm him down.
When ever my babies (or nieces, or nephews, or various wee cousins) would cry for no reason at all I would take them outside and the crying would usually stop within a minute or two. It was like magic.
I find the comments about the 10-week crying jags interesting! I have another take on it though: maybe she needs to poop. :-) When you described the real tears and mournful cry (probably with a little chin quivering, eh?), it brought me back to when my little girl did that same thing! It hurt my heart! Turns out, she just needed to poop. One baby enema later, she pooped and let out the most heart-string-tugging relaxed whimper and heavy sigh then went fast asleep.
As a side note, now (some 25 years later) whenever we see someone do something a little irrational or stupid (usually some death defying driving technique) we just assume they must have to poop. :-)
Go with God and your parabolas…
I felt the same thing yesterday. Perhaps it was a full moon.
Unfortunately, I found my babies always went through the evening cries, too. I think they are just naturally cranky or sad in the evenings. Using up all that excess energy so they can rest well at night, is what the pediatritian suggested to me.
Its tough on mommy & daddy, but maybe adding a little extra mommy & baby time is just what Simone needs in the evenings. Good luck!
I know your test is Saturday but if you happen to take another math class get the book Algebra Success in 20 Minutes a Day. An amazing book that makes algebra easy. I use it myself when I can’t get a handle on something in the textbook.
Hope you do well!
I remember my babies crying like that too and I attributed it to overtiredness (is that a word?). They are prone to cry then or not. Some kids just fall over asleep and some will still cry like that well into toddlerhood. Oh, and some are just bratty when they’re tired like my first son. Luckily, by 4 or 5 he turned into a “fall over asleep” kind of kid. He’s just bratty now for other reasons. Genetic probably.
1. I would like to be haunted by the ghost of Estelle Getty.
2. Unfortunately, I fear I’ll only be haunted by the vision of a graphing calculator dancing out of my reach and taunting me with my own mathematical ignorance.
Good luck with the algebra!
Maybe it is a wonder week. Those happen a lot the first year and usually precede some cognitive or physical leap/milestone. My son always cried, got very clingy and slept for crap. Here is a link to more information. We were usually right on the money with the dates but even adjusted, Simone may be a bit off.
http://www.cyh.com/HealthTopics/HealthTopicDetails.aspx?p=114&np=122&id=2312
I’m interested to hear your reflux saga, we’ve been weathering the same stormy seas with our kidlet. He was on Zantac, and has just started Prevacid. He’s only getting one dose of 7.5mg in the morning (he weighs almost 16 pounds or 7kg), so I’m curious how your Ped will correct for weight. I just gave up all cow-milk related products too, and DAMN do I want some ice cream.
Good luck on your test, when I had to take the GRE the math part almost killed me. Who the hell needs trig in the real world?
The crying is probably a processing thing — there seems to be a cognitive leap around 10 weeks, and that’s often accompanied by crying and upset. Simon did the same thing for a week or two — thankfully, although they seem endless at the time, these stages are actually quite short!
It is called Colic… starts about 9-10 weeks and if you are lucky is gone in about 6 weeks. Every night.. same time.. for same amount of time… endless pitiful crying.
Yeap. Colic, and there is nothing that can be done about it sadly. My doctor told us it was very usual in reflux babies.
Just know that it will get better.
I doubt it’s colic. I’m sure colic would’ve appeared by now. Probably just a passing mood….
Best of luck with the test. In high school I had an old New Yorker cartoon taped inside my locker door; the caption read, “Remember, in real life, there is no algebra.”
We had been battling colic every night for weeks (couple of hours each night) or at least so I thought, but maybe it wasnt since my little girl is only 8 weeks old yesterday. We have reflux too, and its it amazing how quickly we can tell if its a reflux pain cry or something else. My daughter is on Axid, twice daily .8 ml…. I think she is around 11 lbs now but I will know for sure next week as she has her 2 month check-up. After 2 weeks on Axid we really noticed the SCREAMS of pain were pretty much over, every now and then we get one, but nothing like what happened from 3-5 weeks of age. For the most part, Allie’s fussiness in the evenings has gone WAY DOWN..
What I want to know from reflux moms is WHY THE HELL can you sail through some days with few bouts, or just small ones, and other days its just relentless. I don’t breastfeed (please refrain from flogging me) so I just dont understand how giving her the EXACT SAME FOOD everyday produces different results. (something I plan to discuss with the doc at her appt next week).
I have a friend who is a home nurse for moms who need help with the baby for whatever reason (sickness, depression, fears)…anyway, she always says that babies go through a phase at 10 weeks.
My kids both did the same thing @ about 9-10 weeks - I don’t think it’s colic. My kids got super cranky when they were sleep deprived, so I would take several days at home to ensure good, solid naps (no napping in the car, etc.) to get them back on track.
This too shall pass. Good luck, hang in there (in my head I see a Hallmark card with a cat hanging from a branch, with your name on it!)
Million dollar baby indeed! She’s so lovely and I’m so happy she is doing so well. I still can’t believe how big she’s gotten. The crying can be unnerving I know, but it sounds like her lungs are doing just fine. What a blessing that is! Now to help her get to sleep…. It will happen!
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