everybody poops!

My mother/daughter relationship with Sadie started when she pooped in me sometime before labor. Apparently this is pretty common (1 in 4 babies does it), but they're never really sure why it happens. Although it made the labor process a little more traumatic than normal, my husband and I knew she was a real Sugar-Scheiner by starting life off with a good poop.

My newmie motto is that 'everyday is better when you start it off with a poop!' Whenever Sadie is fussy and I know she hasn't gone I always tell her that if she would just poop in the morning the day would be so much better. You probably think I'm one of those crazy people that constantly talks about pooping. Ok, I kind of am, but who isn't, right? Why are people so obsessed with pooping? As if we don't have enough to worry about with our own bowel movements, now we are strangely concerned with our children's.

I remember in Sadie's first few weeks she was pooping about 10 times a day! This is very normal. You go to the pediatrician and their first question is always, 'is she having a good amount of wets and poops?' Good amount? The kid is going every 5 minutes. I would say that's pretty incredible, wouldn't you? I guess now that her digestive system is maturing her pooping seems to be slowing down. So slow I often wonder how such a tiny little girl can consume all that milk and not completely explode.

Did someone say explode? Now, that brings me to the messiest part. Newborns poops are always liquid. If it's a breast fed baby the poop resembles a seedy yellow mustard (sorry for those who have sensitive gag reflexes - you probably shouldn't be reading this anyway) and if the baby is eating formula it pretty much looks like diarrhea. I'd take the breast milk poopies (no smell either) any day over the formula. More points for breast feeding.

As my breast milk started to slow down a bit over the last few weeks, I have been trying to master the science experiment of finding the right formula. I'm still breast feeding, but supplementing with formula here and there when I have to. I still haven't figured out what formula works for Sadie. I'm so stumped that I have actually decided to work on getting my milk production back so I don't even have to deal with the formula. Breast feeding definitely gets big points these days since I can control what goes in it.

During this whole trial and error period I have completely screwed up Sadie's system. Now, that kid that pooped ten times a day has gone a week without one. Pretty scary, right? Consuming milk about 4 times a day, weighing in at around 13lbs (and counting) and where is it going? I had visions of going into her room one morning and finding poop all over the crib. I became so concerned that those visions turned into fantasies because I wanted her to poop so badly.

After trying to keep my cool for a few days since Sadie seemed pretty happy all of the time, I caved and emailed the pediatrician (yes, my pediatrician is on email - gotta love 2009). Not sure if the email thing is good or bad for the doc and me. I think I'm reaching crazy mommy status and I knew I was becoming a stalker when I got excited to see that he was a recommended friend of mine on facebook. My husband told me there was no way he would accept my request since I was quickly becoming psycho mommy. He was probably afraid to, but he did! After explaining to the doctor that it had almost been a week since Sadie pooped, he advised me to do something I feared even doing to myself... SUPPOSITORY! You become a real mommy very quickly when you have to insert something up your kid's tush. I thought the thermometer would be unpleasant until I had to do the suppository. This experience was not fun for either of us, but I will tell you... it totally worked! Exactly 10 minutes after insertion we were back! I felt such a relief. Sick, I know!

Now that things seem to be falling into place with Sadie's eating I feel like we've gotten over such a big hump in parenting. All of the sudden life seems to be so much more calm and stable. Everything flies by so fast and without even realizing it you really get the hang of things. Looking back, I think the thing I learned most from this whole experience is no matter how laid back of a newmie you think you are emailing your pediatrician is never a bad thing. Inviting him to be your friend of facebook...a little crazy!