After a pretty tranquil first week and a half, it became apparent that Julian was going to be a bit high maintenance. While newborns typically sleep 16-20 hours a day, Julian was logging a big 5 HOURS some days and 8 at his absolute best. Just to clarify, that's not 5 hours during the day and 5 hours at night, that is 5 hours in a whole 24 hour period. Every now and then we would get a good stretch, but for the most part, he was sleeping in 5-20 minute increments. In other words, we were (and still are) really tired. What was he doing the other 19 hours a day - or what did he want to be doing I should say? Well, breastfeeding of course. In the second week of Julian's existence, my boobies were scabby and bloody which lead to thrush. I also developed mastitis, which eventually lead to a 5 day fun-as-hell fever. Luckily, my mom was there to make it all better (or as good as she could make it anyway). Breastfeeding was no fun for a little while, which was unfortunate because that is all he wanted to do almost all day and night. When he didn't have something in his mouth, he gave new meaning to the word "fussy", and then even sometimes when he did. Since we don't give him a pacifier, it is either the boobie or the finger. He eventually became SUPER gassy - a veritable fart machine. Without going into grave detail about the color and consistency of his poops, suffice to say that there was definitely some intestinal distress. We suspected I had an over supply problem, which wasn't making matters any better.
Then I cut out dairy. It became especially apparent, after drinking a banana-mango smoothie with milk, that dairy may have been the culprit. The clincher? About 4 hours of loud shrieking 2 hours after I drank the smoothie. At first I tried to cheat and still have a little cheese, but that was a no go. I tired to hang on to one last shred of dairy, but it became apparent that it had to go too. So I said goodbye to the mother of all cheeses, my beloved parm. Sure - I could do it. After all, I had been vegan before. After sulking for a few days, we made a trip to the grocery store, cooked up a few dishes, and had some homemade vegan brownies with vegan "ice cream". All is right with the world again.
Julian is like a new baby. He still doesn't sleep as much as he is "supposed" to, but when he is awake, he is mostly happy and playful. He has rightfully earned the nickname, "Mr. Awake Baby". We think he's afraid he'll miss something. He laughs, he talks, and sometimes he protests. All is well....at least it was until we saw a little tooth trying to poke through.....
