Thursday, March 26, 2009

The Case of The Mysterious Green Poop


Ahhhhhh, big yawn!

It has been almost two months since I last posted. What in the world happened? Well, I've become a mother!

Reflecting on the last seven weeks, a lot of that time has been focused on poop. That's right poop. I don't say this because I've had to change a zillion diapers, which I have.

What I mean is that my little baby girl has had mysterious green poop. Little did I know what life can be reduced to when you have a newborn who is extremely uncomfortable and can at times be unconsoled. Poop it is! I hit the books, so to speak, and tried to find out what was happening in that tiny body.

In brief, the story goes like this. Woman gives birth to baby girl (subject of a later, and much longer post). First week is heaven. Bliss. Sublime. Actually, those words fall very short of what amazingness was experienced during and after birth. Next four weeks are, well...how do I describe this...spend some time in hell and that might sum it up.

Not to say that I wasn't still having those terrific, amazing feelings. I was. I was also quite despondent that my little one had what classified as colic, which very roughly translates to a crying baby that cannot be consoled for hours on end. In hand with colic, was the passing of over 15 stools of green, mucousy, or bright green stool every day. For those who are unschooled, this is a lot of poop even by baby standards.

During my time in hell, I jokingly said I was ready to throw the baby out the window. (That was the darkest joke I could think of to make me feel better...really, I never actually felt that way.) I was prepared to do ANYTHING to help my little one feel better. Turns out, it was energetic medicine (BodyTalk) and cranio-sacral therapy that brought us out of the dark side. I truly can't say enough to parents with even moderately fussy babies. This saved my new family's sanity more than anything else. It was like we went back to that first week of sublime, falling head over heels in love with the most beautiful creature ever to exist on this earth.

Now that I'm back in the babymoon phase, I can say those four weeks were brief (thank god) and probably a rite of passage into motherhood. Before I knew it, my baby was smiling, cooing, gurgling and just being a hollywood babe. The babymoon phase is in full force. When else could someone breath out a booger on your breast and you find it charming and adorable? Why else would you go from being a true and complete foodie to eating only six things (okay, eight including salt and pepper) and still function in the world?

Also, fortunately, the last few weeks have been filled with the typical breast-fed-mustard-yellow-white-curd-poop, with an occasional green surprise. Nope. No details spared here.

***

Funny, I thought I was 'human' again after those weeks passed. After rereading this I'm quite sure I might actually never be quite 'human' again. It's okay because I am so in love with a beautiful creature blessed to us.

1 comment:

Lindsay Gage Natale said...

It is the most amazing self-sacrificing journey to be a mother. It is amazing because the little ones will not truly know how much we unconditionally love them until the cycle begins again with them, and they experience parenthood. Deepest congratulations on your beautiful baby and experience.