ferrousland.com - diary archives
Thursday, January 08, 2004
scary - 05:23 PM
last night, riley had a bit of a problem. he was lying on his play mat having a sleep & he woke up crying as he sometimes does if he has a pain in his belly. we were both nearby so we both went to him to make sure he was okay as he usually is after a minute or so, but this time was a bit different.
he'd woken with a small vomit, but he managed to somehow breathe it up instead of spewing it out. he was coughing & snorting & managing to clear some of it from his nose, but he wasn't calming down. when he hurts inside he arches his back & he was doing this in a big way & crying & crying. his eyes were streaming & quite red. i put this down to the acid in the vomit stinging his nose: you know how your eyes water whenever you have any type of trauma to the nose area? just like that. his nose was streaming too & he seemed to be having trouble breathing through it, as though it was all blocked up. the snuffley sounds coming from his nose seemed to confirm this.
i was trying to cuddle him & comfort him, but with the arching of the back & the squirming in pain, i could barely even hold him as he kept on with the serious crying for about ten minutes. i know this isn't very long considering that some babies cry for hours on end, but for riley this was quite a long time. he's usually such a content baby & this was more than just a tired cry.
he was in such discomfort that i was close to tears myself because i couldn't seem to fix it. shroom had the idea that he'd breathed some of the vomit into his lungs, so he took him from me & put him up high over his shoulder & began firmly patting his back, fast & continuous.
as he put him up on his shoulder, he settled almost immediately. after a few minutes, i took over, but he got upset again when i patted much slower. shroom told me to pat faster & straight away he was all good again. i was so glad that shroom was there. i was so proud that he could fix him, make him happy again. i was so relieved.
my poor little baby. i was really worried about him. he was the most distressed i've ever seen him. i'm not sure what would have happened if shroom wasn't there.
up until that point, i'd always been the one that knew what to do. i'd always been able to make him more comfortable, to hold him just right, to give him some breast to comfort him. it made me wonder what might happen the next time i don't know what to do. up until that point i'd felt quite capable & in control.
it made me realise for the very first time exactly how scary it can be to be a parent.
And it's amazing the different skills you each bring into the parenting. When Hayden was little he liked Duncan to burp him a certain way but hated it when I attempted it the same way.
Oh Riley! That *is* scary. It really takes your breath away doesn't it. I knoe exactly how you feel.
Don't scare Mum like that sweetheart!
It makes the fathers so proud when they feel that they can be helpful with the first child. Most mothers of first children think that the men can't do anything. When it go to our 2nd and 3rd, I was doing more to comfort them then she was, but by then she was ok with it, she just wanted to get sleep.
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I agree that this can be very scary! Especially when they are so young and communicating is so hard.
Common mind says it's a learning thing, but emotionally it's a killer!
Lin-si was 8 months when we got her, and she never did these kinds of things, luckily!