Teething Torture

Carter was a little under the weather for the past couple of days with a fever and runny nose, so yesterday I stayed home from work with him. It came on suddenly and punctuated our blissful, relaxing weekend with worry. I took him to the pediatrician, suspecting that he could have an ear infection because he was so fussy and seemed to be in such pain. Fortunately, I was wrong - just a regular cold. Today he's much better (no fever and the nose is better), but the fussiness hasn't dissapated.

I suspected he was teething, and the doctor confirmed as much yesterday. I'm armed with both Hyland's Teething Tablets and Baby Orajel, ready to do battle with the evil little teeth that are causing him so much pain. Frustratingly, he won't let me anywhere near his mouth in order to mount my attack. Not only is it an epic struggle to get anything onto his gums or into his mouth to make him feel better, I can't even get a finger in there to determine which part of his mouth is bothering him. He was up FOUR times last night, which is sheer torture after having him sleep through the night for so long. It's like he's three weeks old, and I'm an anxious new mother riding the wave of postpartum hormones all over again. The really aggravating part is that when he wakes up, I nurse him and he conks right out again, so I don't know if he's waking up because he's really in pain, or if he's just waking up because he knows now that if he cries, Mommy will come. For the past week or ten days, he was waking up once, around 3-4am, which was hard enough after getting used to weeks and weeks with ten hours of uninterrupted sleep from him - but now it's three and four times in one night?!? STOP THE MADNESS!

Last night while he was in a tranquil post-bath mood, I managed to get a finger in his mouth. I couldn't feel anything sharp on top, but I might have felt something on the side, further back on the gums - could he have a MOLAR coming in?? How is that possible? I thought molars didn't appear til the first birthday or later! Though it would certainly explain the fact that my precious, mellow-yellow baby has been possessed by a DEMON.

In short - AAAARRRRRRRGHHGHHGHGHGHGHGHGHH!!!!

I'm feeling a wee bit stressed.

Perhaps the wisest bit of advice I ever received about parenthood is that whenever you think you know something, whenever you pat yourself on the back, whenever you get comfortable - IT ALL CHANGES. Sure, you work hard to establish your routines and set your schedules and figure it all out, but ultimately, parenthood is flying by the seat of your pants and rolling with the punches. Anyone who says differently either has a lot of help that I don't or is on some kind of mood-enhancing substance (and if that's the case, please share).

Life is hectic, crazy, and busy-beyond-recognition with one baby - and yet we want two more! This begs the question - ARE WE INSANE? Yes, yes we are. Because no matter how much I bitch, moan, and long to sleep in, have properly painted toenails and ten spare minutes to guiltlessly primp in the mirror, I wouldn't change a thing.