Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Nurse to Mom...

This is a transition that i am having a hard time making. In all my training, education and experience I have been told and learned that if someone is showing outward signs of distress then there is a medical reason why and the ultimate goal is to find out what the reason is. I go through all the usual series of questions like dirty, hungry, gassy, in obvious pain, and is it their reflux and is it time for their medicine. And if they continue to show signs of distress then there is a medical reason behind it and i have to find what it is. However... this does not apply to newborns, infants or children. So for the last 5 weeks, every time one of the girls cry I do what any nurse would do and that is an assessment. It is encoded in my brain that if you see signs of distress you do an assessment and figure it out. So i do. and with my results, i turn to books or the internet and look up the signs and symptoms that i have found. And with the results that google gives me usually sends me into this slippery slope of internet searches that ultimately leads to me thinking that the girls have some strange rare disease that only 1 other person in the world has or a variety of issues as you can imagine. In turn i have called the doctor and have worked myself into a frenzy because there is something wrong with my girls. I am not going to run through all the things that I have thought were wrong with them or how many times i have called the doctor.
Everyone tells me to stay away from the internet and books because they are normal healthy babies doing what babies do. And sometimes babies cry because they want to and there is absolutely nothing wrong with them. Brian has adjusted well to this and I for some reason cannot grasp the concept that these little people cry and cry and there is nothing wrong with them. But I am trying, I dont want to drive the girls, brian, or myself any crazier than I already am trying to find something wrong with them,but it is very hard for the nurse in me to stay dormant. But I am trying and I have admitted that there is a something wrong and admitting is the first step to resolving the issue. or some crap like that. :)

Thanks for all the reassurance!!!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Dear Kristi,

Welcome to the wonderful world of motherhood. One way to look at this is that this a brand new (and much less comfortable, I'm sure!) world for them and that their only way of communicating right now is to cry for no apparent reason. Newborns, in many ways, are truly a bundle of nerves (and sometimes, consequently, they get on your nerves!) My experience in the world of parenting is that sometimes you just have to do all you can do and leave the rest to God. P.S. that's not easy, either. We love you and know that you are doing a great job with the girls. I can't think of another person I'd rather have to be the mother of my grandgirls! Hang in there, they'll be over this phase before you know it.

Anonymous said...

I never thought about it from that point of view. You are too funny! Hang in there . . . keep telling yourself that there is no sound sweeter than the cry of a newborn baby! :)

(And stay away from the internet!)
:)

Brian said...

Hey someone else told her that too... :)