Cry Baby
I found myself sitting on the beach under the shade of a palm tree sipping a mai-tai brought to me by an indigenous bar tender. I watched as waves lapped at the shore and sea birds were cawing and diving into the ocean off in the distance. Not a cloud was in the sky. From out of nowhere a pervasive rumbling filled the air. I looked back towards the center of the island and could see smoke billowing out of the island's volcano. The Fire-god must be angry. The sky soon filled with soot and sulfurous ash as the rumbling increased in intensity. The rumbling began to rise in tone. It soon became more like a wail and the Polynesian landscape began to melt around me. Soon I realized, I was not relaxing on some unknown south pacific island. I was actually huddled under my sheets and the rumbling had turned into the tremulous cries of my month old daughter. Fire-god indeed, more like a poop demon. How could someone so small make so much noise?
Carrie had been checking on her since 1:30 AM and it was now 4:17. She had been fed, changed, fed again, burped, pacified, burped again and fed. What could possibly be wrong? I decided to go investigate. By decided, I mean that Carrie pushed me and said, "It's your turn. I've had enough." Usually we are better about dividing up the work but I apparently slept through most of the trauma last night.
I crossed the hall to her doors. I could feel the intensity of the screams as they pierced the night. I have no clue how my parents sleep through this. The screams are so intense that her whole body turns crimson and she is covered in sweat. It must be really hard to shout this loud.
I lift her frantic form out of the crib and place her over my shoulder. One hand supports her bottom while the other pats and rubs her back. I pace the room trying to comfort her. Eventually she stops crying long enough for me to try to determine the problem.
Dirty Diaper check....Negative.
Hungry....Negative
Temperature....Nominal.
Just plain not tired.....Bingo!!!
This child is going to be the death of me. Yesterday she woke up at 4am and cried periodically until about 6am when I gave up on trying to pacify her and just woke up for the day. Today, this wasn't going to happen. My mind planned. I tried the standard approach, swaddling. I wrapped her so tightly in the blanket that her arms were pinned at her sides. Her eyes were wide as she looked accusingly at me. I laid her back into her crib, turned out the light and waited. I crawled onto the day bed and hoped.
After two minutes, I thought I was home free and that I could soon return to sleep. But then they began. Genevieve doesn't just turn on the fire engine like a light switch. She has to warm up the pipes before she can really get going.
Stage 1 - Whimpering
She emits little cries on and off for one second. They don't sound like she is serious about the whole crying ordeal. She, in fact, often falls asleep between the cries. Sometimes this is as far as it will get. Sometimes she'll just pass out and stay out. This time, no such luck.
Stage 2 - Pre-crying
These last quite a bit longer and the pauses are less frequent. This stage is a precursor for trouble. During this state, if you comfort her quickly by shoving a pacifier into her mouth or rubbing her back, she might drop back into stage one and fall back asleep. However, if you let this continue, she'll just work herself into stage three.
Stage 3 - Crying
This is a constant infant-only cry. It is hard to describe, but the strangest part about this is the complete absence of tears. Infants don't tear when they cry. That doesn't start for a few more months yet. At this stage you are in trouble. She has decided that she is upset and is committed to being awake. You've only got a few minutes of this before stage four commences so you better work fast. I picked her up and rocked her. Comforted her. Shushed her. Then I checked her diaper. Uh-oh...dirty. Dirty diapers at stage one or two can be difficult to change but at stage three they are really hard. As soon as you lay her on the changing table during stage three she switches to stage four.
Stage 4 - Wailing
This is when her body really turns red and the screams rise in intensity. This is the classic crying baby that cries all the air out of its lungs and then has to pause to take a ragged inhalation to continue the crying. There is often a few choked coughs in there. What makes changing the diaper so difficult at this time is that she often makes her entire body rigid. In order to clean her I need her legs to be loose so I can use the wipes. I usually have to wait for the inhalations which means I have to suffer through 20 - 30 second ear-piercing wails waiting for the 3 second interlude.
The story has a happy ending. The diaper is eventually changed. Her cries subside. I wearily crawl back into my bed. She even managed to sleep until around 7:30 before starting the cycle over again.
Carrie had been checking on her since 1:30 AM and it was now 4:17. She had been fed, changed, fed again, burped, pacified, burped again and fed. What could possibly be wrong? I decided to go investigate. By decided, I mean that Carrie pushed me and said, "It's your turn. I've had enough." Usually we are better about dividing up the work but I apparently slept through most of the trauma last night.
I crossed the hall to her doors. I could feel the intensity of the screams as they pierced the night. I have no clue how my parents sleep through this. The screams are so intense that her whole body turns crimson and she is covered in sweat. It must be really hard to shout this loud.
I lift her frantic form out of the crib and place her over my shoulder. One hand supports her bottom while the other pats and rubs her back. I pace the room trying to comfort her. Eventually she stops crying long enough for me to try to determine the problem.
Dirty Diaper check....Negative.
Hungry....Negative
Temperature....Nominal.
Just plain not tired.....Bingo!!!
This child is going to be the death of me. Yesterday she woke up at 4am and cried periodically until about 6am when I gave up on trying to pacify her and just woke up for the day. Today, this wasn't going to happen. My mind planned. I tried the standard approach, swaddling. I wrapped her so tightly in the blanket that her arms were pinned at her sides. Her eyes were wide as she looked accusingly at me. I laid her back into her crib, turned out the light and waited. I crawled onto the day bed and hoped.
After two minutes, I thought I was home free and that I could soon return to sleep. But then they began. Genevieve doesn't just turn on the fire engine like a light switch. She has to warm up the pipes before she can really get going.
Stage 1 - Whimpering
She emits little cries on and off for one second. They don't sound like she is serious about the whole crying ordeal. She, in fact, often falls asleep between the cries. Sometimes this is as far as it will get. Sometimes she'll just pass out and stay out. This time, no such luck.
Stage 2 - Pre-crying
These last quite a bit longer and the pauses are less frequent. This stage is a precursor for trouble. During this state, if you comfort her quickly by shoving a pacifier into her mouth or rubbing her back, she might drop back into stage one and fall back asleep. However, if you let this continue, she'll just work herself into stage three.
Stage 3 - Crying
This is a constant infant-only cry. It is hard to describe, but the strangest part about this is the complete absence of tears. Infants don't tear when they cry. That doesn't start for a few more months yet. At this stage you are in trouble. She has decided that she is upset and is committed to being awake. You've only got a few minutes of this before stage four commences so you better work fast. I picked her up and rocked her. Comforted her. Shushed her. Then I checked her diaper. Uh-oh...dirty. Dirty diapers at stage one or two can be difficult to change but at stage three they are really hard. As soon as you lay her on the changing table during stage three she switches to stage four.
Stage 4 - Wailing
This is when her body really turns red and the screams rise in intensity. This is the classic crying baby that cries all the air out of its lungs and then has to pause to take a ragged inhalation to continue the crying. There is often a few choked coughs in there. What makes changing the diaper so difficult at this time is that she often makes her entire body rigid. In order to clean her I need her legs to be loose so I can use the wipes. I usually have to wait for the inhalations which means I have to suffer through 20 - 30 second ear-piercing wails waiting for the 3 second interlude.
The story has a happy ending. The diaper is eventually changed. Her cries subside. I wearily crawl back into my bed. She even managed to sleep until around 7:30 before starting the cycle over again.
posted by daniel @ 9:37 AM
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