The Awkward Aftermath

This post is an epilogue to your reflux episode. But first, an anecdote:

Mommy is awkward. I'm not just using that term loosely, like an Instagram hashtag. I really am. I'm not consistently awkward; sometimes I can actually be quite graceful socially. But when I'm awkward, I am AWKWARD. Worst of all, my awkwardness seems to come in clusters. I remember one of my more awkward days when I was in grad school. For whatever reason, our lecture was in a different classroom (a different building, in fact) than it usually was. The newer School of Medicine had an exit sign over the door to leave the auditorium and return to the main atrium of the building. This older research building had no such thing. You wouldn't think this would be important, but when you really have to go to the restroom in the middle of a lecture, it's pretty distracting to the rest of the class when you open not one but THREE closets trying to find your exit. Later that day, I went to heat up my lunch in one of the microwaves in our student lounge. When I opened the microwave door, I was surprised to find food inside. "Excuse me," a stranger said next to me. "Do you mind if I finish heating up my food?" This guy had been standing there as I walked up, and his food had two more minutes to go. I opened a microwave while it was in-use and tried to stick my food in there while the other food's owner was standing right there.

Anyway, my point is that sometimes chaos isn't an isolated incident.

After that crazy night Saturday, we woke up at 7:00. You didn't sleep through the night (despite the fact that this had become pretty consistent over the last month or so), but I expected that after you weren't able to eat much during your last feeding of the day. You ate well at 7:00, and you were your usual happy and playful self. You went down for a nap at 8:30, and then woke up at 10:00 for a snack. Again, you seemed like yourself. We had brunch plans with my friend Amy, so I strapped you in your carseat and we left around 10:30. You didn't really sleep in the car, but you seemed pretty content.

Once we got to brunch, you decided you weren't happy. I thought maybe you were tired of the carseat, so I put you on my lap. This calmed you down momentarily, but then you began to fuss again. I fed you. Again, momentary bliss, then fussing. I changed you. Same thing. I held you in my lap again and you began to settle down. I placed you back in your carseat just in time to eat my food while it was still warm. You dozed for about half an hour, then woke up cranky again. I fed you again, but we noticed that we were getting some dirty looks from the wait staff who wanted our table. I walked you over to the car (while still feeding you), finished the snack in the car, and we took off.

You fell asleep in the car almost immediately, exhausted after such a challenging brunch. I needed to go to Publix to get food for the week. Passover was fast approaching, we were hosting company that night, and I had agreed to help out some neighbors by making them dinner. When I woke you up to transfer you from the carseat to the Ergo Baby, you weren't too happy with me. You kept trying to go to sleep while I was wearing you, but I think you were just too tired to let yourself fall asleep! At one point, I even fed you inside the store in an attempt to calm you down. Here's something I've never noticed before: there aren't really any chairs in grocery stores. The grocery shopping took about two hours.

By the time we finally got home, it was about 3:00 and you had slept for a total of two hours since you woke up that morning. Your eyes looked glazed over, and you were staring at something far away. I tried to put you down for a nap, but you were too tired to sleep. So I made dinner wearing you, tried to soothe you, and tried to avoid overstimulation. You weren't too fussy during dinner, as long as one of us held you the whole time. Needless to say we went to bed early.

I had over-programmed our day a bit. But even after a rough night the night before, I didn't think it was necessary to change our plans just because you were tired.

Here's the lesson I learned: never underestimate the power of fatigue.

Here's the lesson I want you to learn: a good night's sleep can cure almost everything.