An Act of God! (a.k.a. Dr. Harvey Karp)

Guest Poster: Michael, Baby Daddy

Okay so it would take an act of God to get me to post anything on this blog. That is, for no other reason, because I despise writing. (so far it has taken me an hour to get his far)

THE PROBLEM:

Last night a miracle took place at our household. I will get to that in just a minute. First, I need to prep you to for the ridiculousness that lead us to this scenario. It all started around 10:30 Wednesday night. Grayson settled into his final feeding of the night before his mom and I tried to get some much needed shut eye. He fed really well, so we expected another three to four hour block of sleep before my parents arrived early Thursday morning on their trip up from Houston. After burping and lightly swaddling him we put him down to sleep. Within five minutes we hear a rather loud and sloppy bowel movement (this prompted a slight chuckle from both of us). So I jump up quickly from the bed to change him before the whining sets in. As expected he killed this diaper, on to a fresh one. About the time I get one of the tabs on the clean diaper secured he really starts to cry which I am beginning to realize this means a massive urination is on its way. I braced myself along with the other side of the diaper and prepared for the worst. All was going well until I noticed a leak in his protective barrier. Now, not only do I need to change his diaper but also his sleeper, swaddling blanket and changing pad cover. I breathe a BIG sigh of relief once I get him all wrapped up and clean up the chemical spill. I take our clean baby back into our room to settle him and put him in his bassinet. SLEEP AT LAST!

Oh wait, scratch that, it is time for a screaming fit. The kind of screaming that makes your ears hurt. Alright not a problem. Frustrating, YES, but not a big deal. I mean no one was sleeping just yet anyhow. I pick him up and try soothing him anyway that I can while not leaving the bed. You never know he might go right back to sleep. Five minutes, ten minutes, fifteen minutes pass before I reluctantly slide out of bed to take him to the rocking chair in the nursery. I am officially wide awake and really pissed off. I sit down in the rocking chair knowing that this will help. Another five minutes of high-pitched screaming continues before Lindsay, hearing my increasingly stern and loud voice, comes in to relive me. It was amazing to me how quickly I lost my cool when my words of comfort turned to words of despair. I was talking to him like he was a rational all knowing human being. Needless to say Lindsay came to save the day just in time. I went to go cool off in bed. My adrenalin was pumping like I just clawed my way out of a brutal street fight. Lindsay did a spectacular job of calming him within a ten minute span. Kudos to the mom. 

Lindsay returns to the room with the now calm Grayson to find me staring at the ceiling. I tell her how upset I am that I lost my calm demeanor so quickly. She tries to reassure me that I am still a good dad and we try to get some sleep. Ten minutes of sleep later my parents call at 1:30 am to let us know they are just pulling onto our street. I tell Lindsay to stay in bed with Grayson and I get dressed to help my parents in for their stay. The rest of the night proceeds normally without any major incident.

On to Thursday morning. Lets call this the "Day of Relaxation". 

I literally did nothing all day long. It was awesome and well deserved. As the day began to close our neighbor came over to see the baby. While she was holding the baby we began to tell her the story of our rough night. She had an immediate suggestion because she and her husband have recently gone through the exact same thing. She continues to tell us about a video that they own called "The Happiest Baby on the Block" by Dr. Harvey Karp. She informs us about the techniques that she learned and how much it helped them when they were faced with the same situation. We find out that there is a video at our local public library and I am off to retrieve the one copy that they have before they close at 9pm. We are not going to have a repeat of the previous night!

THE VIDEO:

First of all, this video is not going to win any awards, but it is going to win the hearts and praises of any parent with a new baby. I am also going to suggest that it be included with every newborn baby package before the new parents leave the hospital. The video tells of five steps to soothe a crying baby, a.k.a. the 5 s's:

1. Swaddling

2. Shushing

3. Side-lying

4. Swinging

5. Sucking

All the steps are important but none are more important than number 1. Do not underestimate a nice restrictive swaddling. 

THE RESULT:

Utter Bliss. Immediate results. 5+ hours of sleep. He could have gone longer but Lindsay was starting to build up a surplus in her lactation factory.

Lindsay fed Grayson just as well as the night before but this time we tightly swaddled him, shushed him on his side and then set him to swing through the night. It is amazing to see how eager I was to get up at 4:30am and start my day after multiple sleepless nights. We will keep you posted with further results.

Have a good weekend!