Colic

Elaine has colic. Everyone, but mainly Shawn has been dealing with it for over a week now. Usually it hits the hardest at night, typically after midnight. It is getting to the point where Shawn and I are taking shifts to help comfort the little baby girl. Watching what she is going through just rips you apart as a parent. She will be in your arms, she doesn't like to be put down, and all of the sudden her little legs will kick up into her chest then the wailing begins for about four minutes, inconsolable balling and writhing. It is terrible to watch and to try to help. Nothing seems to do anything to eliminate the symptoms. I can not understand why the medical monkeys have made absolutely no progress on treating colic. They have cured penile dysfunction for the limp, yet nothing for infants with colic. They don't know what causes it, they DON'T EVEN KNOW if it is mental or physical for the love of Pete. Pediatrics are pretty impotent when it comes to babies in extreme pain the first 6 weeks of their lives. I will stop here before I really get on a rant. But if your child has had colic I feel for you brothers and sisters, it is a god damned nightmare.

Last week at work I felt like I had just gotten back from 3 nights in Vegas without the fun nor the debt just burnt out. We had had constant night ops for a week prior to my returning to work on Wednesday. For instance, my first day back after 2 weeks out started around 4 am just as some heavy colic cycles were ending. I decided to go in around 4:30 so that I could get back early that afternoon and relieve Shawn of at least one of the two little ones. My lasting memory of that morning will be the smell as I was leaving the house to go to the Urban Assault Rig. I think the air was as clean as it can get in this city, as they say "spring was in the air" and it smelled awesome, it reminded me of growing up in the country. Give that smell one hour of commuter traffic and it is history.

The following day I arrived at work at 11am, but I had got up at 5am to take over with Elaine and let Shawn go to sleep. She had been up since 11:30 pm. I took Elaine outside in her Moses basket, my left hand held the reins and walked the yard. Elaine finally settled around 5:50am and I did some gardening chores until Ben rose at his usual 7:15am. To offload Shawn and let the two girls rest, noise free, I fed Ben then we went to the Ballard Locks.

It was one of those mornings that you read about. Crystal clear, sunny, perfect. If you haven't been to the locks I suggest you go soon. The entrance is very park -like, I suppose it is a park and very well kept. Super lush this time of year, the American Chestnut trees were in massive bloom, these had red clusters of flowers rather than the standard street faire of white. We walked around for about an hour or 90 minutes. Ben seemed to be having a good time. He found some bird shit that had just fallen from the sky and promptly began to finger paint with its warm lumpy translucence. Being a good half-assed father I knew it was prudent to find a head and wash up. This came to mind after I had wiped his hands off with a dollar bill. Washingtons are not very effective and it occurred to me US currency is probably more foul than the bird poop. So I made it to work at 11am that day. It was a pretty great morning given the circumstances.

When was the last time you were tired from lack of sleep? Was it from a night or two of travel or partying? Something that didn't last long and you could catch up fairly quickly by staying in watching some sitcoms and going to bed early. Did it go on and on every night for several weeks? A chain of 3 hour nights for 10 days? Was it completely frustrating, crushing, and exhausting? Like it was in Vietnam? Did you go to bed every night and not know if you would be up in 5 hours or 4 minutes? Was it 4:45am and there was no sleep in your future for 18 hours with the working day about to start - most of all did you have an infant in your arms that sounds like she has been helplessly dying all night? That is the meat hook in the heels. You are not up for just a 1 hour feeding and it is back to the sack. You are up because a 10 pound angel just woke up everyone and thing in the house and the neighbor's houses. There is no poor poor me running through your head if you are strong and responding by rolling out and going to the poor poor baby. If adults had colic god help you, we wouldn't make it a day without levels of narcotics that would make you babble and drool.

So yeah weeks straight like this is tiring but not as bad as having colic. Last night I went to bed around 12:30 and didn't get up until 6 and then I had a 3 hour nap while Ben was down later in the day. Today was like heaven, and it was gray and wet the perfect combo for day sleeping. There is an end in site to the suffering. It is easy to lose that perspective when your in the thick of it.