Evil, Thy Name is Teeth

So yeah. Bridget is definitely getting her first tooth, very late mind you, but there it is.

At first, I thought her refusal to eat had to do with waking up at 4 a.m. on Saturday to get on a plane. Her whole day was jacked up so it was no surprise to me that she only took one normal bottle on Saturday, and just “nibbled” for the rest of the day, even at bedtime. She was simply too tired to hold her head up, not even for a bottle. Sunday, I could still chalk it up to travel excitement. We were in a new place with new things to climb, slime and explore. She’d eat a few ounces and then refuse any more and demand to be put down so she could crawl. She wasn’t fussy, she wasn’t upset, and she ate her fruits and other solids just fine. It really didn’t dawn on me. On the periphery, I knew teeth were coming, I could see the bump on her gum, and she was definitely drooling up a storm. I just didn’t connect the dots.

By Wednesday, I was freaked out. Over the previous days, she had MAYBE taken a total of ten ounces of formula per day (a baby her age should be getting between 24 and 32 ounces per day), her diapers were fitting her very loosely and I was in tears and about ready to pack this all in and head home so we could go see Dr. Karam. Wednesday night, Jake called his mom. (See, I am actually raising Jake version 2.0 so honestly, I should just get Jake’s baby book and follow that for advice and guidance.) We wondered if Jake had done something similar. And yes, before he could get the words out of his mouth, she said, “Sounds like teeth.” Duh! I never really thought that sucking on the nipple of her bottle really hurt her, so she just chose not to do it. Spoon feeding was ok because it really applies no pressure to her gums.

So began the application of or@gel, and lots of ice, and things were getting better. We congratulated ourselves that our little girl was handling teething with style and grace - again, she hadn’t been fussy or cranky or whiny. Just refusing to eat, and we had found the workaround for that.

Then last night, she lost her shit. Poor thing woke up at 1 a.m. and COULD NOT BE CONSOLED. We tried more or@gel, more ty.lenol, ice, a bottle, diaper change, holding, rocking, walking, shhhhh-ing, sleeping in bed with momy and daddy. She was having none of it. It was horrible for me because she has never been like that. We’ve always been able to solve the problem, and sadly there was just nothing to be done until that ty.lenol took effect. All in all, it only lasted about 20 minutes, the really bad part. I just held her, walked with her and told her over and over how sorry I was that she was having to go through this. I think that at that point, I would have cut off my own hand if it would have stopped her from hurting. It’s almost like she was thinking, “Woman, why won’t you FIX this????” My poor girl.

And yet, she woke up bright and sunny this morning at 8 a.m. as usual and has been in a good mood ever since. She took her full six ounce bottle without the aid of or@gel or ty.lenol. The tooth is definitely poking up more and I’m hoping that it pops up before bed tonight.

The upside is how cute she’s going to look with that one little baby tooth popping up. Now I need a big container of anything caffeinated. We had planned a day trip to Charleston today but I’m not sure if it’s on or off.

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