My First Lesson in Mom Instincts – Mommy Blogger

01/20/2018

My name is Erin McCrea. I’m a Momma, a pet Momma, and a writer. I had my first baby at age 35 in May of 2016. Becoming a mom was the scariest thing I’ve ever done, and I have loved every moment of it. I blog at  http://erinisawriter.blogspot.ca/, but haven’t done a lot since Anthony arrived. It’s my goal to be a consistent Writing Mom by the time his birthday arrives. I’m shy, caring, weird, bossy, and I try to be happy every day. My baby helps with that.

At a Mommy Connections Mom and Tot group we were asked what the best advice we received about being a mom was. I can’t remember a lot of the advice I received. Unfortunately, I was focused on getting the baby out, and wasn’t thinking a lot about what came next.

I know what my advice is.

Trust your instincts. Always.

I learned this lesson in my first month of motherhood. This is a long story. For me, the first month was the hardest. It got better, but I was exhausted, I was frustrated, and I was worried about my son.

Unfortunately, at about three weeks, my son started puking after he ate. My partner was working away from home so it was just me with our sick baby.

To be clear, I’m not talking spitting up. He puked. After every single time he nursed. It happened anywhere from right after I fed him to two hours later.

He was hungry. He wasn’t gaining weight. I spent A LOT of time on Google trying to figure out what I was doing wrong. (Moms are the best at blaming themselves.)

I told people about it, but I’m not sure they understood how bad it was. I understood that they didn’t get it. Babies puke. It’s supposed to be normal. Nobody was living it like I was so nobody was as worried as I was.

It got to the point where before feeding him, I’d cover the nursing pillow with towels. Towels to soak up the milk that came right back out. I remember one moment so clearly when I was feeding him in my bed, and we both fell asleep after. We were exhausted. He woke up about two hours later, and puked all over the towels, and me, and him. We just went straight back to sleep, soaking wet.

Finally after extensive googling, I went to the Breastfeeding Clinic. I told her what was going on, and fed Anthony in front of her. Of course, he didn’t throw up while I was there. She gave me advice on ways I could fix it. (Because once again, I was blaming myself for my son being sick.)

As I was walking out of the building, he projectile puked out of his car seat down my skirt.

I texted my sister, and asked if she could come with me in the morning to the Emergency room. I was giving it one more night, but he didn’t seem to be peeing, and I was worried about him being dehydrated. He was dehydrated.

A quick side note, nobody told me that there was a strip on the diapers we used that turned blue if he was wet… that’s another great piece of advice to new moms.

In the morning, we went straight to the Emergency room. I had no sleep. I stayed on the couch the entire night, sleeping when we could. My sister met me in the morning.

When I got there, and described the symptoms, they took me seriously. In fact, they knew what was wrong. I went up for an ultrasound with him, and they went straight to the problem area. Anthony had Pyloric Stenosis. It’s an enlarged muscle that’s blocking anything from getting into his stomach, which is why it was coming back up.

They booked him in for surgery, and I waited until supper time the next day for him to get it. Because he has had this surgery, I know now how common this is. Google actually had something I had read while worried, but I honestly saw the word surgery, and thought ‘that can’t be what’s wrong’. Since binge watching Grey’s on Netflix, I’ve heard how many times Alex Karav talks about a surgery for Pyloric Stenosis. (Anthony’s doctor didn’t look like Alex).

I only wish I had followed my mom instincts sooner. I knew something was wrong, and I was worried about him. I’m so glad I did follow my instincts because he started gaining weight like crazy a few days after the surgery.

It was my toughest moment as a mom, and I’ll consider myself lucky if it’s the only major health problem he faces. It’s tough for young moms. Kids get sick, and we don’t know what to do. I had a friend recently tell me she took her baby to the ER because of how much he was coughing. She felt silly. I told her to never feel silly about caring about her baby. Follow those instincts. You know better than anybody.

This was a very long story, and I am sorry for the amount of times I used the word puke in it. It was my first lesson in listening to myself. It was also a lesson in not blaming myself for everything. It’s not always your fault, Mommas. Don’t cause more stress.

In conclusion: Follow your instincts. Don’t blame yourself. And the strip turns blue on diapers when your baby is wet.