You know what's funny? A three and a half week old baby FREAKING STRAIGHT THE FUCK OUT. Last night, after dinner with Shannon (Hi, Shannon! Thanks for the socks!) and a couple of hours of nursing/being a human pacifier, we all retired to the bedroom. (Aside: Remind me to tell you about our continuing adventures in pumping.) Matilda was fine with bedtime for 45 minutes maybe, but then she realized that since we all went to bed at the same time, she had been denied her nightly Freak Out with Niclas in the living room while I tried to get in a nap before bedtime. This realization caused her to start The Freaking and OMG, SO FUNNY. She screams and screams and kicks her legs and thrashes the fists and did I mention the piercing, eardrum-shattering screams? She screams and her tiny head turns bright red and the mouth is wailing and she arches her back all the better to SCREAM LOUDER and screams and screams and then winds down to look around all calm with the O face. Then she winds back up and Lather. Rinse. Repeat. until she falls asleep with her fists in the air.
I've decided that the best way to deal with these Le Freaks is to wrap her up in a blanket and hold her and let her just work it out on her own. (This post and the comments are quite timely, as at least a few of the responses mention not rocking/rubbing backs.) The way I figure it, she's freaking out because her brain is the size of a clementine and after a full day of growing, having to listen to CSI: New York just put her over the edge and she's got too much to contend with. So rocking or bouncing or SHHHHH-ing her are only going to add to her feelings of being overwhelmed.
So there we sat last night, her in my arms belting it out. And I was having a hard time not laughing at her because The Fury was really something else coming from something so small and young. It's not like she knows who the President is. What's she so upset about? But every time I let out a laugh, she'd tense up and scream louder. So I had to hold it in and just watch her mini face contort with beet-red rage. When she was finally done and passed out with her fists in the air, she slept for four and a half hours. Le Baby Freak! It's good for something.
Ok, the pumping? Is going much better. I tried it again yesterday morning (after remembering that the milk supply is lowest at night, which would explain why Matilda nurses from 7 to 10pm, and also why my first attempt to pump, after dinner, got me exactly nothing) and got an ounce. Was pleased with that, for a second attempt and not much time spent. Was also pleased that Niclas was able to feed it to her while I cooked dinner. I have not been able to cook dinner since she was born, because dinner-time is smack in the middle of her Nightly Feeding Frenzy. So that was lovely, and the expression on her face was *surprised* with all that milk landing in her mouth at such a rapid rate.
Please Note: Nursing does not hurt. Pumping is uncomfortable, more so if you watch your nipple getting sucked down the neck of the pump. Clogged Milk Ducts TOTALLY KILL. Nursing makes them go away faster, but those first few pulls on the clogged breast are almost as bad as contractions. *OW*
