Saturday, April 18, 2009

Her gums are swollen with teeth, and I am swollen with pride!

The night before last Davie slept like a newborn . . . which is to say, not very good.  She acted like she was starving that evening and through the night, so we thought she was going through a growth spurt (which I still haven't completely ruled out since she had 37 ounces in the last 24 hours).  The next day her Mother's Day Out report said she did not take a single nap.  WHAT?!  When I came home, Steven said, "Momma- look in my mouth . . ." speaking for Davie of course.  There I saw one little tooth bud rising from her bottom gums.  I was SO proud.  I wanted to throw her a party and invite everyone we know.  I was not expecting this pride.  

I was, however, expecting the symptoms - sleeplessness, chewing, fussiness, etc.  She is a rollercoaster of emotions.  One moment she is beaming with pride, smiling ear to ear to show off her ivory new accessory.  The next she is throwing a fit and can't get comfortable.  I think the eating is a coping mechanism.  Eating solves all life's problems for her right now.  I'm glad, because I had heard sometimes when a baby is cutting a tooth, eating causes them discomfort.  And she was already starting to look a little gaunt from last weekend's stomach virus.  

Last night she woke up every hour until 3am.  I fed her and then she slept until 6:30am.  It's rough when you get used to sleeping through the night and suddenly have a few of those thrown at ya.  (I used to think people were dumb for saying sleeplessness in your 3rd trimester gets you ready for sleepless nights coming up when baby is here . . . I thought, "Just let me sleep, and I'll deal with that when it comes."  But I think it's true.  You do get used to it.  Still exhausted of course, but used to it.)

We got some of those teething tablets, which I would have NEVER in a million years found on my own at Walmart where they keep the estrogen pills!  Those seem to be working wonders too (the teething tablets, not the estrogen).  I can't seem to figure out what she wants to chew on.  Sometimes she will chew with glee on something hard like a plastic cup, but other times she screams in pain.  Sometimes she will chew on something soft like her sippy cup spout, other times it's not good enough for her.  We also got some teething biscuits for her to munch on.  They are not a huge hit yet.  So far she has offered both her pieces to Scout, and Scout gently obliged.

She does have diarrhea, but I don't know if that's from the teething or her sudden intake of food!  Anyways, I am so proud of the little tyke . . . but I must say I will miss her giant toothless grin.  

1 comment:

Foster said...

My senior year of college I had a wisdom tooth grow in. It wasn't dangerous or anything and I didn't want to pay a dentist to inflict pain monetary discomfort to remove it. Since it had been a significant number of years since I had a tooth grow in I'd forgotten how much it hurts. I had fever, headaches, tenderness, and a range of emotions similar to what you have just described. From that experience I have a new found respect and sympathy for teething babies and their parents. Congratulations on the new teeth. May they be sharp and useful.