two weeks

David is two weeks old today. The fun never stops. In the novel Ender's Game young boys in military school play military games as training. One team consistently wins so with each new day, new rules are introduced and old rules are changed to make it different and more difficult. Every time Ender's team has figured out how to win the game, the rules change. The author, Orson Scott Card is very familiar with parenting. The highlight of this week was a discovery of a situation called Gastroesophogeal Reflux (you spell it, I am busy cleaning up pee). We have been told frequently by healthcare professionals that many babies spit up a lot--especially boys--due to an underdeveloped flap separating the tummy and the esophagus. But they all failed to mention two important points: 1) This can cause discomfort symptoms that are identical to the symptoms we have been attributing to severe gas, and 2) this is very easily treatable. We learned this from a book and so we changed our regimen and pow, game won--go jeesh. No more spitting up everything that he ate, no more hours of writhing and screaming. He gets Gripe Water, he eats, we keep him upright for 30 minutes, he is fine. Yes, it sounds simple to you who probably slept for more than seven hours this week. So life is beautiful, tra la la la la, until earlier today when, for no apparent reason, he upchucks while he is eating. What is that about? So we adjust, change what we are doing just a bit and try to figure out the new rules.

Jaime is in some discomfort that I can't really get into here and she is sort of frustrated today. Apparently, she thought that the pain and discomfort of pregnancy would let up once the baby was actually born.

On Friday, I called the church to talk to a friend with many kids and had this conversation:

Me: Do you have any tips for dealing with thrush?
Friend: My kids didn't have thrush but my sister's did and she is a lactation consultant and she is right here; I will put her on.
Me: er
Friend's sister: Uh, hello?

Really, how many times do you call a random place with a lactation question to find that there is lactation consultant standing right there? What luck. Towards the beginning of the conversation she mentioned that she happened to be feeding her child as we spoke.

Me: So, you are pretty good at this then.
Her: Yeah, well it helps if you are going to be a lactation consultant.

Then later she interrupted me with "oh! She just spit up I-don't-know-much milk on me."

Nice to know that this even happens to the experts.

OK, well, Jaime just laid a sleeping baby on the bed next to me, so I am signing out.

I have more pictures. If you say your prayers, I will post them.

Love J-dad.

PS. I wrote the above last night but didn't get to post. That sleeping baby awoke a few minutes later and launched into a two-hour screaming fit. With all previous fits, we could figure out some way of soothing him. Then, we changed the feeding regiment and the fits subsided altogether. So this one was a new change of the rules. But it eventually ended with a feed and he has been fine since. He is now laying next to me again. Jaime needed to shower. She said "I am itchy with baby vomit." There is a vivid picture.