Little Nothings about the 4th Trimester

Georgiana is 9 weeks old. She has had what I think is textbook colic. I thought it was reflux and then I thought food intolerance. I tried medicines and gave up dairy. The more I read about descriptions of colic, and the more I paid attention to her behavior (and talked to other moms whose babies had had a slew of things early on)… and noticed that her unhappiness and discomfort is mostly limited to one window of time per day, that it peaked at 6 weeks (textbook!), and has been steadily getting better… I really think colic is what it is!

^a rare moment of calm

In addition to all this, she is a highstrung and sensitive baby. No chill for G. My friends tell me that all their girls were like this. 🤦🏽‍♀️ Basically, for the last 6 weeks, if Georgiana wasn’t sleeping or eating or pooping, she didn’t know what to do with herself and started fussing. I hated that more than the colic – I want to get to know you, little girl!

I’m still too nervous to reintroduce dairy though. It took 2 weeks to get it out of my system fully! 😬 my plan is to wait til she hits 3 months (when many doctors say colic is outgrown), and then eat a really cheesy piece of pizza. And blueberry pie with a flaky butter crust. Because, go big or go home.

I never could’ve imagined the intensity of love and protectiveness I would feel for this Little Lady, as we call her. I didn’t think I would bond with a girl. From the moment she was placed on top of my heart at birth… It was like, all that is feminine and womanly and vulnerable in me, saw this pure, sweet, untainted, tiny piece of womanhood and felt compelled to guard that with my life. I had this deeply-buried instinct to cover her from the insecurities and jealousies and abuses and fears that steal our true womanhood from us girls at such early ages. She is a daughter of the King and I get to watch her come into her inheritance as she grows up. He created her for gentleness and sweetness and sensitivity and intuition and the compassionate love that enables us women to receive others and embrace them where they are. He created her to give healing and to share a hidden strength.

So it’s ok with me if carrying all the weight of that makes her a little high maintenance. 😉

As for how the Oakes men have taken to her…

^Henry took this at the doctor’s. He is obsessed with her and, true to form, gives us more anxiety when he attacks her with love than Becket does.

There have been so many cute moments with the boys getting used to their baby sister that I wanted to remember in the last 2 months and all I saved was this Note:

The Becket thing was incredibly hard for about 3 weeks (until I had recovered enough to be able to pick him up again, poor guy). My first day alone I was like – how do I get him up from his nap if I physically can’t lift him!!! He was upset by the sudden change and threw a lot of tantrums so that was zero help.

Then I healed and he perked up noticeably. However that perkiness led to a LOT of mischief. One day I was laying on my bed nursing the baby when Becket came rolling in. “Mama, grab Georgie?”

“No Becket, I’m nursing Georgie. You have to be quiet.”

“Ok mama. Ok.”

He was quiet for a change, and then I heard a loud squirt and Becket’s delighted voice: “oh awesome!” (his favorite new word of that week).

I unlatched G rapidly, rolled over to behold the entire contents of the new Decitin tube squeezed out over my bedside table. NOT AWESOME, BECKET!

And I miss Jason!

He has been so busy with picking up my slack in addition to his own work. Quality time for the two of us Monday through Friday is tricky.

Our friends who had 4 already had told us that it was like ships passing in the night with the 4th baby. And they were not exaggerating! However my sister is living with us this summer (she is working at an internship uptown) and even with G’s colic in the evenings we are starting to squeeze out a few lovely date nights. Those have gone from being luxuries to essentials in our relationships! We don’t have to spend a bunch of money but we HAVE To get away alone to get a conversation in. The interruptions at home from all the kids are constant.

Well that’s all for now! I had so much to write about once I started, I had to cut three tangents for separate posts.;)

We have 3 weeks left of the 4th trimester! It’s been hard and purgative and I am so grateful for it and this little girl God gave us.