Zombies

Darrel went to a Halloween themed photo shoot recently. Somehow, this photo seemed to fit today’s post.

Last week I got an interesting comment on whether the chemical released by the amber necklace we use on Zac for pain relief was interfering with his ability to find safe foods. Not so much a declarative statement, just a comment: it’s an unknown chemical, and maybe it is making it harder for him to find safe foods somehow.

So Darrel and I talked it over and decided to take Zac’s ever-present necklace off to see how he did and maybe see if it made a difference once we begin trialing foods again next month.

I don’t think we’re going to make it to next month.

After removing his necklace, he steadily increased nursing sessions over the last four days or so until Sunday he nursed 20 times for a total of 7 hours, 52 minutes.

And he wasn’t content to just latch on to whatever boobie I had out for him in the middle of the night like he usually does. No, he would scream until I got him the boobie HE wanted, which was never the one that was out.

That meant that while, yes, he does usually wake frequently throughout the night for nursing, I usually barely register the feed. Usually, I sleep straight through it. This weekend, though, I was “screamed awake” every hour and a half all night long every night, in addition to spending HOURS of my daytime hours sitting and nursing him, or listening to him scream bloody murder because I had the audacity to, you know, try to pee or feed myself and wasn’t nursing him.

Not to mention, he’s not nearly as happy a baby without the amber necklace. He’s demanding and edgy. Happy until he doesn’t get what he wants and then BAMMO! Toddler-worthy temper tantrum…tears, screaming, throwing his body on the floor in protest, the works.

He also wouldn’t nap all weekend. Short little hour long naps, and he’d wake up screaming from them and not be happy for hours.

I’m so tired and worn out right now I feel like I spent two days in a jungle with a troop of gorilla’s armed with baseball bats whose whole goal in life was to beat me senseless. My whole body aches and my brain feels like it is in survival mode; there aren’t enough synapses firing to allow me anything more complex than a single thought at at time, and I have to concentrate to keep that thought in my head or it slips away into the ether and is gone forever.

Darrel feels pretty much the same way.

And I know poor Zac is exhausted, too.

So, I don’t know if the amber necklace is interfering with his ability to handle new foods. I don’t know if it is filling his bucket.

But I DO know that the damn thing is a miracle worker for teething pain and allows Zac to live his life without being miserable.

Which means Darrel and I have a chance at a life that isn’t miserable.

So maybe we’re doing the wrong thing, but that necklace is going back on his neck and not coming off upon penalty of me opening a serious case of whoop-butt on whomever would try to take it away from him.

Darrel and I are walking Zombies today. And we were all weekend. We got NOTHING done besides staying alive and fed, and we managed to miss lunch on both Saturday and Sunday. Saturday Jed ate chips for lunch and Sunday he ate strawberry candies, both of which he only got after he told us “Mommy, I very hungry”.

Mother of the year, right there.

I was too tired to remember to feed my toddler. THAT is too damn tired to maintain.

If I’m not around much this week, this is the reason why. I may be able to maintain posting schedule, but I have to get my life back on track and get some sleep this week. Nobody can keep this up for long.

It’s freaking torture.

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Anyone use an amber necklace for pain relief? Do you notice if it interferes with your kiddos ability to find safe foods? Do you think it’s worth it anyway if it lets your baby sleep?