Editor’s Note - As you may have noticed, we love alliteration! A big welcome to Melissa, our newest contributor to the Budapest Mom’s website. We hope you will enjoy her rants and ramblings as much we do…
A newborn mother’s top two enemies: hiccups and bowel movements
Perhaps not every mother of a newborn would classify her top two enemies as hiccups and bowel movements, but, boy, that sure has been my experience! My daughter’s charming, four times a day habit of hiccupping in the womb has become the dread of my existence.
Take the other night for example. At approximately five a.m., an hour after my sweet baby’s second feeding, and two hours before I desired to be up again, we were both startled from sleep by the dreaded monster, hiccups! How in the world she came down with a case of hiccups in her sleep is beyond me. All I knew was they were what was standing between my pillow and I, and I wasn’t going to have it. That has happened far too often, and I was sick of this cuteness turned bane of my existence nonsense. Thankfully, this time was not as harsh as other times have been. I was able to cuddle my baby back to sleep within a few minutes. Whew! Safe this time, but who knows when they’ll hit again!
The other fear of nighttime sleep disruption is bowel movements. Now, don’t get me wrong. I know they are a natural and even joyfully welcome friend in a new baby. After all, it means all systems are working and in order! However, after being changed once or even twice during a feeding at three a.m., the last thing this sleepy mommy wants is to tackle another one. My great and valid fear is that third diaper. And, the reality is it never comes in a timely manner. It’s after I’ve carefully nursed and snuggled my baby back into deep sleep, after I’ve tested her arm for due limpness that ensures that she’s really past merely counting sheep, and have bravely put her down very, very gently praying along the way that she won’t wake again. And, amazingly and to my great joy, she’s still soundly asleep. I reach over and carefully turn off the light. I snuggle back on my pillow and drift off to the sleep, the nursing hormones working well to help me on my way past counting sheep as well. Right when I’m on the cusp of entering dreamland I hear it. It’s like a roar in my ears. It’s my dear, sweet, three week old daughter, and I’m certain she just had the largest bowel movement of her life. She’s instantly awake, no shocker there, and we’re back to square one, and I’m now calculating how much coffee I’m going to have to drink in the morning to make it through the day.
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My name is Melissa and I came to lovely Budapest with my husband, Scott, who is pursuing a PHD at Central European University. Since our arrival in summer 2010 I have kept busy teaching English to business professionals, finding beautiful running and hiking trails and exploring coffee shops all over the city. Most recently I became a mother to a darling little girl, so I’m scrambling to figure out how to handle this new job that did not come with a manual! Read more about Melissa and her ramblings on her very own blog.
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