Initiation

As far as I'm concerned, I've been fully initiated into this thing they call "mommyhood!" Within the last 2 1/2 weeks, not only have I experienced the following, I have successfully faced and tackled each obstacle head-on!!

- POOP: No, not just poopy diapers. Yes, I've had my share of those - Micah is an overachiever in that category! (I'm not kidding! He has significantly more of them than the "average" newborn) . . . But I'm talking about FLYING POOP. Projectile poop, if you will. You see, one night . . in the wee hours of morning, after feeding my little one, I decided to go ahead and change his diaper, as it was obviously dirty. Like a good mom, I held his feet up so he wouldn't find his heels buried in the nastiness and lifted his butt to wipe it . . . and as I did, the sweet little booger decided it would be a good time to poop, just ONE MORE TIME! And, if you know anything about newborns (especially breastfed newborns) and their poop, you know its watery consistency . . . yeah . . . I got to know it well that night, as it sprayed everywhere. And I mean EVERYWHERE - all over my shirt, my pants, on the carpet, the pack and play, and . . . in my hair. SICK. At first I thought it was pee (as he IS a boy and it DID spray), but no such luck. Nope. This was orange . . . and sticky . . . and nasty!

- PEE: Yes, like every other mother (or father) of a little boy, I have now been peed on by my son (once again, while changing his diaper). I used to think diaper changing was a vulnerable thing for a baby . . I've changed my mind - I'M the vulnerable one!

- THE HOSPITAL: I've now spent my first few hours (as a parent) in the hospital with my son . . . waiting and praying that the doctors would come out and inform me that everything was "okay" and "he will be fine." Thankfully, they did. See, for 3 days, Micah was throwing up everything he was eating (not just spitting up, throwing up). His pediatrician was concerned about possible dehydration and wanted to narrow down some of the possibilities, so she sent us immediately over to the hospital for an Upper GI - they fed him a bottle of barium and x-rayed him to see that he was able to digest it properly. We were there for 3 hours so they could take pics every 30 mins. as it went through his intestines, etc. They were checking for "anatomic malformations." Kinda scary. Apparently it's not uncommon (esp. for little boys) to have tight stomach muscles that don't allow food in to be digested, so it comes back up. They fix it by doing surgery and cutting the muscle. Thankfully, Micah had no malformations and they decided he just has bad reflux. Ahhh, 2 wks. old and already making trips to the hospital! My brother spent 1/2 his life in the emergency room as a kid - I sure hope this isn't a sign of what's to come!!


So, YES, I believe that I have at least passed the Mommyhood Initiation - "initiation" because I know that this is ONLY the beginning!!