Wednesday, January 8, 2014

It Was Just A Season

I am running on about five hours of sleep this morning. My eyes are puffy, I have three day hair (and I couldn't care less), and I overslept and had to get ready in about 15 minutes so that explains the rest of my unpolished appearance.

Hubby also left the house this morning to take GGH to Mamaw's without her bottles so obviously we are all behind the eight ball.

It's not been the easiest week in the Harrison house. I usually do not to blog about the hardships of raising a child (which thankfully have been few and far between) but this week it has been consuming so it only seems appropriate that I document. Hopefully I can look back and say it was just a season. And if any of my readers out there are experiencing the same frustrations, I hope this can relate to you and give you hope and reassurance that you are not the only one.

For the past several weeks Georgia Grace has been waking up at least once (usually 2-3 times) a night. She dislikes despises hates baths and Marcus and I both dread tub nights with a burning passion. She is recovering from another ear infection and giving her the ATB is like wrangling cattle. She has not been eating well and we are no where close to giving up the bottle. Her gag reflex has reared its ugly head again this week too. And I'm awaiting a call from her pediatrician on whether or not we are a candidate for ear tubes.

"Calgon, take me away!"

Her pediatrician told us that his protocol for ear tubes is four infections within a six month period. We met protocol this weekend with our 4th desperate trip to an urgent care clinic for some relief for our baby. I have never even had an earache so I can't relate to this pain but I hear it is torture which breaks my heart even more for our poor daughter.

I think all of our troubles we are being dealt right now all revolve around her ears. My prayer has been that if tubes are the answer to our problems that she would be a candidate and we could start that process sooner than later.

Putting my baby under anesthesia is probably the last thing I want to do but I also don't want constant pain or permanent hearing loss for her either. So I'm choosing to put on my big girl pants and put my faith in God's plan and provision.

He knows best and hasn't failed me yet.

Last night when I finally got to lay down around 11pm I was tempted to skip my nightly Jesus reading in order to squeeze in an extra 15 minutes of sleep that I thought I desperately needed. But I decided that this time with Jesus is a blessing to me and would be more valuable to me than the extra shut-eye.

And I was right because I read one chapter of Love Does and loved it so much I went for another. It even put a smile on my face and made me laugh out loud which I haven't done much of this week. Thank you Jesus for the gift of words on those pages.

 So even though I am worn and tired and slightly defeated, I know that tomorrow is a new day. I will get a full nights rest again (I am spoiled since she started sleeping through the night at five weeks, I guess this is payback ha!). Bath time will be fun again and that will be the nights we look forward to most. Her ears will heal and she will get relief somehow someway. Her appetite will resume and maybe someday she will give up the bottle :) The gagging episodes are already fewer and farther between and I know that will only continue to get better with time.

I realize how blessed we are that she is healthy and that our problems are so miniscule compared to what truly sick babies go through. I feel guilty even venting about our troubles and I am humbled when I hear about children waiting for transplants, childhood cancer, and those that are terminally-ill.

Please don't read that I'm not thankful for everything that I've been given because I am and I have been given way more than I deserve.

We will continue to pray for the hard stuff, have thanksgiving for the other 90% of our lives where things are really great, and remind ourselves that it was just a season.

And it will be a very sweet day when we are on the other side of this season.

8 comments:

  1. Bless her heart and yours too!! Prayers that your sweet baby girl will get better and your nights get easier! Everyone needs to vent every now and then, no shame!

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    1. Thanks sweet Ashley! It means so much. That's why I love this community of friends and support :) I'll keep you posted.

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  2. You are NOT alone and I love hearing from other new mama's the struggles and tribulations. Don't get me wrong I LOVE the happy hearted stories but reality as we know is not that every single minute of every single day. I was just emailing with another fellow mommy blogger that I adore, and we were sharing the hardships of this age. Her twin girls are a couple months younger than Emery and Georgia Grace and I felt like we were living parelle lives :) It was refreshing to hear that I was not alone!!! Emery has been breaking in her molars and I mean everyone at the same time. She also had an ear infection on top of that which has made the past several weeks HARD!!! I feel like there is nothing I can do to console her or take away her pain and it kills my heart :( I know that in time this stage will pass and I will look back in the future thinking these were the easy times :) Thanks for being so open and sharing all your journeys. Big Hugs and Luvs, Darcy-Mommy to Emery

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    1. I'm SOOO glad you commented Darcy. I know and feel your pain, it's such a helpless feeling. Reality is not always pretty. I hate that for Emery, and that's so true about teething-it seems to all happen at once! I'm glad that I am not alone either and that there are other dirty haired, stressed, crazy mothers out there :) Prayers for relief and rest for the both of you! XOXO Kaitlin

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  3. I love how you're honest about the hardships. So many blogs only focus on the awesome/wonderful/amazing times, and it gives off the unrealistic impression that they're living a perfect life. Real people have difficult "seasons" and it's so much more relatable when people are honest and real. This time will pass, and you'll look back and appreciate the good times so much more. Plus, you'll be a better and more experienced mommy because of this. :)

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    1. Thanks so much Lauren. I want to be real and like you said, not paint a false picture of perfection. This is one of the reasons I blog so I can look back on the good, easy days and appreciate them even more.

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  4. Poor baby Georgia Grace :( I'm praying for y'all! I never realized just how tough the job of mama was before. Have you tried a sippy cup with a straw? Caroline took to those better than I thought. We've had a lot of luck with Avent sippy cups, too. Here's to more rest and a happy baby soon!

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    1. Thank you Jena. I think it's the toughest yet most rewarding job in the world. We've tried the straws but she hasn't quite mastered the sucking from a straw part. We keep offering them though so eventually she will learn!

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