Sweet Pea is looking much happier in the photos lately - is she showing a lot of reduced signs of withdrawal/pain?

We have certainly learned how to manage her pain. When her tummy pain is at its worst, she likes to be swaddled and held upright on my chest. I pat her back and give her the paci, if she wants it. I hold her very tight against my body and that position helps eventually bring her relief, except on horrible days. On horrible days she just continues to squirm and be restless all day long.

I realized something pretty amazing the other day. Sweet Pea rarely cries. Even on her really bad days, she rarely cries. She would certainly cry if I left her just siting on her own somewhere, but obviously, I don’t do that because holding her tight against me brings her comfort. She wriggles and squirms in discomfort, but it is amazing to me that she rarely cries, even when her pain is at its worst. I attribute this to having her on a schedule. Sweet Pea has order and stability in her life, even through all the craziness of her tummy troubles, and I am confident that has made a world of difference for her when her tummy is hurting her.

And yes, she does look so much better than she did after coming home from the hospital. She does not have the furrowed brow anymore and she smiles every day. However, she still does deal with tummy troubles on a daily basis and will, most likely, for a while still until her body has had time to grow, mature and heal from the drug exposure.

We have an appointment with the GI specialist this week. My pedi didn’t feel like it was essential that I take Sweet Pea but I can’t not go. I don’t know if there is anything groundbreaking that he will be able to do for Sweet Pea, but I have the opportunity to take her to the specialist and I am not going to pass it up. Maybe there is something he knows that my pedi just isn’t aware of because she isn’t a GI specialist. He is a specialist for a reason! Once again, I have to know I’ve done everything in my power to help bring Sweet Pea comfort through all this.

I love that sling! How easy is it to put on and use? How did you get the sling to work? Have you tried other baby carriers?

The ring sling is fairly easy to put on and use. Once you do it a few times, you just get the hang of it.

I put the sling on over my head first. Then I make sure the rings are at my shoulders. Then I make a little “cocoon pocket” for Sweet Pea to slip into by making sure some fabric is against my stomach (on the inside).

Then I pick Sweet Pea up, lay her on my chest in the position I want her to be in while in the sling. Then I slip her into the sling.

Once she is in, I pull on the fabric coming out of the ring to tighten her against my body.

I really do love this sling. It is perfect for holding Sweet Pea in her “comfort position” when I need to be hands-free to take care of Little Bug.

Since I have never tried to put a baby in a ring sling with their feet/legs hanging out, I really can’t answer that question!

I have one other sling that I used with Little Bug once she was a little older and had more head control. It is an Infantino carrier.

I really did not use a sling much with Little Bug because she just wasn’t a sling baby. I do remember using this carrier several times at the sink when I was trying to clean the kitchen/wash bottles and Little Bug was wanting to be held. She enjoyed watching me wash dishes from her view in the carrier.

Those are the only slings/carriers I have experience with.

How do you meet other mom friends? I am a SAHM and it’s so hard to find other moms to meet up with!

I have lived in this city since I was under 2 years old, so I have many local friends, even from elementary school! God has blessed me with an abundance of close friends that I have known since elementary/high school. Friends that are forever friends and aren’t going anywhere even if they were to move cross-country. We will always be friends.

Church! We are a part of a small group at church, made of several couples in our same age group who are in the same stage of life as we are.

If you are a church-goer and your church offers small groups where you can connect with other members of the church, I strongly urge you to find a group you can connect with and start going to a small group! It took a while for us to find a group that we connected with, but it was worth every bit of effort it took to finally find this group of people who are now like family to us.

Neighborhood! Don’t be afraid to talk to your neighbors! This day and age is so strange when it comes to neighbors! For 3 years, I lived right next door to a woman I consider a good friend now. When we lived next door to each other, we did the usual neighborly “Hi, how are you?” and that was basically it. They moved and we became friends on Facebook and talked more through Facebook than we ever did in person when we lived right next door to each other! She is expecting now and oh how I wish we still were neighbors and could go on walks together with our babies in their Britax B-Ready strollers! (She is the one who told me about the stroller!)

So my point is…if you see a SAHM always out in the neighborhood, go up and make friends! The neighbor to our left is a SAHM with her two young children. Little Bug LOVES the little girl who lives there. If she is out playing, Little Bug wants to go play with her. We often let our kids play together while we talk and enjoy some adult interaction!

What exactly is her birth story?

I was not present for Sweet Pea’s birth because of certain circumstances I can’t go into now.

The way I understand it, Sweet Pea was born at 7:55am via c-section and her birth mother saw her for about five minutes. Because of the rH factor, Sweet Pea was whisked away soon after her birth so the aggressive treatment for this condition could begin immediately.

Sweet Pea was born at one hospital and then was transferred to another hospital about four hours after her birth.

Once at the second hospital she was treated for the rH factor with triple phototherapy lights and a blood transfusion a few days after her birth.

We met Sweet Pea on August 4th – two days after her birth. She was about 1.5 hours away from our home town. When the lawyer text me saying the TPR had been signed, we jumped in the car to go meet our baby girl.

While I was not there for Sweet Pea’s birth, I was given an equally amazing gift: The very first time I ever laid eyes on Sweet Pea, she was completely mine.

It’s a moment I will never forget – just like those precious moments after Little Bug’s birth as I stood right there in the delivery room as she made her grade entrance into this world.

- Elaine