First few days

January 4^th - 5^th, 2013

   The next few days all ran together as we were in the hospital.  Even though it was only a day ago we went home, I can’t remember the exact days. 

    On the 4^th, we were asked if we would sign for the regular Hep B shot to be given to Ava while in the hospital.  We were uncomfortable with it since she had already had such a traumatic entrance, so we said we wanted to wait and talk to our pediatrician.  Our pedi came by later in the day and assured us that within the first 48 hours is the best time to give that shot.  Since we are not doctors, we agreed.  (Looking back, I think this decision affected the rest of that day for poor Ava.)  After her shot, we spent time in the room just adoring her and getting to know her better.  She had a few moments when she would get upset (and she was very opinionated about which breast she wanted), but over all, she was not too fussy. 

Friday night/Saturday morning that changed.  Over the course of the day, she became very upset every time she woke up, and if we could not calm her down within the first minute or so, she became inconsolable.  Earlier in the day, she would be consolable with lots of effort (bouncing, walking around, shushing, feeding, formula feeding, swaying, singing, swaddled, clothes off/on, etc.).  As the day went on, nothing would stop her from screaming- to the point that she would give herself hiccups.  We had several nurses and professionals come give us opinions/advice, but nothing really worked.  The nursery and pedi suggested that she was hungry and needed formula.  The lactation consultant said she did not think that was the problem (she had watched her eat and worked with us several times on Friday and Saturday).  She stayed with us trying all sorts of different things to help soothe Ava.  Eventually, she tried turning on the hair dryer, and Ava slowly was able to calm down.  We never would have thought of that, so we were very grateful to her (especially when we thought this was just going to be Ava’s personality).  We planned to get a noise machine to help at home. 

   That evening we used the hair dryer on 4 or 5 occasions.  We decided we needed to get some sleep, so Ava spent a few hours at a time in the nursery.  We permitted they give her formula once to knock her out, but I didn’t want that to be a usual thing, so they brought her back to feed.  Over the course of the night, (what I am assuming was the effect of the shot wearing off), she had fewer and fewer fits. 

            We are very, very glad that now Ava is *usually* quite content, and we haven’t had anymore inconsolable crying sessions.  I really, REALLY hope those stay away.  Seeing just a few hours of an irate baby makes me have a whole new respect for moms who have to deal with extremely fussy/inconsolable babies regularly.  Wow, it was tough.