a parenting first

As parents, there are lots of firsts, even with the second child. We had one of these firsts last night. And I'm thankful it concluded the way it did.

But before the conclusion comes the story, from the beginning ...

Ben woke up at midnight, screaming. Keep in mind he has slept through the night for months. His scream was like he was scared. So I thought he had a nightmare. I mean, seriously, even though I have no idea if babies dream, much less have nightmares. So I rocked him. But he wouldn't relax. He just kept screaming.

After only days of knowing my little boy, I could access the cries. And, now, for almost seven months, I've been hearing them. There's a hungry cry. And a mad scream. And a tired whine. But I didn't know this scream. So we striped him down, just to check him out. Nothing looked unusual. His diaper wasn't even full or dirty, although he's never been one to cry about needing to be changed.

Even though he hasn't eaten at midnight for a long time (well, as long as can be in less than seven months of living ...), we decided to feed him. I say "we" because by this time I've gotten Greg out of bed to join me with the screaming baby.

He chugged the bottle, like he hadn't eaten five hours earlier. It didn't make sense, but I assumed we were solving the problem. Then he burped and started screaming again. It was just a little burp, nothing that should send my boy into painful screams.

We tried laying him down, but he screamed. So he ended up laying on my chest in our bed. He started to relax, and then another little burp sent him back to screaming. And not relaxing.

An hour or so had passed and I wasn't feeling good about the situation. I didn't like not knowing if something was going on inside him that we didn't know about. So we decided a trip to the emergency room might be in order. Greg ended up taking him, while I stayed at home with sleeping Cate.

After drawing blood three times and an X-ray, the conclusion was he was constipated and/or had indigestion. They gave him a suppository and sent him home, finally, at almost 4 a.m. It was a long night for Greg and Ben, especially. Not that I really slept while they were gone.

Today, I cut back on the baby food, which he had been eating like a champ, and am trying to get a little more liquid in him. I'm attributing the change in his bowel movements [I really can't believe I just typed that on my blog ... ] to the new foods in his diet, so his screams were just his sensitive body adjusting.

Well, speaking of Ben, he's up from a three-hour nap. I told you the boy had a long night. So I'm going to love on him ... and feed him.

[OK, so technically, we've been the ER with Cate, but the circumstances were very different, thanks to a conversation beforehand with our ER doctor friend from church.]