It Takes A Village

Hey all! I'm back from my unintentional blogging hiatus. I decided last week that I needed a little change of scenery so on Thursday Campbell, the girls and I drove down to Little Rock to spend a couple of days with my parents. I was so excited about being there and it was so nice to get out of my house (and have extra help with the little peanut) for a few days. However, the trip ended up being a bit of a disaster. Campbell decided to be the grumpiest baby on the entire planet and he literally screamed every minute of his every waking hour that we were there. It was horrible!!!

The first 24 hours I thought he had turned into a bad/fussy baby. Then I decided something was wrong with him because it's just not normal for a baby to scream all. day. long. I can't tell you how many hours I spent on google and how many Mom's I was calling/texting to ask them if they had any ideas what his problem could be. He would only take naps for about 45 minutes at a time (instead of his usual 2-3 hours) and Mom and I worked so hard all day to keep him from crying. I would give him multiple baths a day because he loves baths and that would keep him quiet and happy for 20-30 minutes. I ran out to Babies R Us and bought a swing to see if maybe that would help. We went on walks, car rides....we did anything and everything we could to try to keep him happy. It was exhausting. I had only planned on staying through the weekend but there was no way I was going to attempt a 3 hour car ride with a screaming baby. By Monday night he finally started to calm down a little bit so on Tuesday morning I hopped in my car, said a prayer, and headed back home. Campbell slept the entire way home and yesterday he hardly cried. Today he's been a perfect, happy, smiley baby.

I was really concerned that maybe something was wrong with my milk so I made an appointment with a lactation consultant and Campbell and I met with her this afternoon. The first thing she did was weigh him and I was flabbergasted to see that, since last Tuesday, Campbell has gained almost an entire pound!!!! He went from 7 pounds, 14 ounces to 8 pounds, 11 ounces...in eight days! Once I picked my jaw up off the floor, I realized that his screaming was most likely due to a major growth spurt. I'd heard that babies have a big growth spurt somewhere between weeks 5-7 (Campbell is 6 weeks old today) so I guess that's what his problem was. I'm hoping that's what the problem was anyway. Just in case I made an appointment with the pediatrician simply because I'm paranoid and anxious by nature and just need the peace of mind that nothing is wrong with my little guy!
I feel terrible that Campbell was so exhausting for his Pops and Gamma but I'm also so glad that I randomly decided to go down and visit when I did because I think I would have absolutely lost my mind if I had to deal with him on my own. My Mom (and Dad) saved my life. That saying "it takes a village" is no joke. I told Scott he was super lucky he got out of that little episode! Mom's are essential to have in your life when you're raising your baby. I didn't realize how much I would need mine! She's been my saving grace more times than I can count in the last 6 weeks. If only we lived in the same town....
It's only been about 24 hours of non-fussyness but I'm hoping we're out of the woods with that one. It was terrible! I hope it never happens again. Happy babies are way more fun and a zillion times easier to work with!