I was totally ready to conquer the newborn stage this time around. With her being my third, I felt completely prepared! ....little did I know. My beautiful baby girl had colic. Just thinking the word "colic" makes me shudder. When I would here other moms say their baby had colic I would feel sympathy for them. It must be really hard having a baby that cries a lot- plus the sleeplessness and recovering from pregnancy and birth... It's beyond hard! I had no idea just how hard it would be. There were many nights my husband and I just prayed for her to stop crying and I'd pass out on the bed while she screamed in her crib. We seriously got to the point where we could tune it out and that usually occurred around 2-3am after listening to the crying for hours. (DISCLAIMER: we tried everything, leg peddling, burping, feeding, shushing, swaddling, cutting out dairy, listening to running water, sound machine, walking, holding her while doing lunges, I mean- seriously everything.) Thank goodness for my friends who brought food and words of comfort. Many nights my eyes were glazed over as we'd sit down to dinner and my husband would look at me and I'd just start crying. It's so hard feeling like you can't comfort your baby. You feel like a failure as a mother. All I can say is THANK GOD this wasn't my first child! I did have some perspective that we would get through this. And I'm so grateful that my husband gave 150% and we would switch off dealing with crying sessions so the other could sleep. We were in full blown survival mode. Now that Dillon is 3 months, the colic is gone and I can finally rejoin the world! If your baby has colic- there is hope and it will end! Just tie that knot at the end of your rope and hold on! It will get better- and one day your baby will give you that long awaited smile and you'll breathe a sigh of relief and tell yourself it was all worth it.
With love,
Becca
