In Diane we trust

There are days when we think we have 'cracked the code.'  Q wakes up, eats, plays, and naps without much fuss and without extensive effort.  He is mostly smiles those days.  However, those moments ultimately prove fleeting and we end up frustrated and utterly exhausted again and again.  We have seen a number of doctors, consultants, and the like without any real progress.  The questions vary, but the answers are always the same: this will pass.  As to when it will pass, well, the answer is pretty consistent there as well: eventually.  But if anyone has dealt with a colicky baby you know that all time is not created equally and a day can seem like a lifetime when he is wailing away and you have no answers left but to set him down and let him do so hoping that eventually he will wear himself out and go to sleep.

We believe that the answer is his stomach or, more accurately, his GI system.  Though he is medicated against reflux and takes probiotics, we are gravitating towards possible allergies.  Or perhaps we are grasping at them.  What is clear is that what we are doing now isn't solving anything.  For every day he is happy and content, there are two where we openly question our decision to have a child in the first place (or at the very least I do).  We knew it wouldn't be easy and that things would change, but we did not expect to be anxious about coming home and hoping and praying that the other one has things under control that day or that moment.  What is true is that we are probably shedding nearly as many tears as Q is.

Thankfully, through all of this, Diane has been there to help.  I wish my parents were nearby as well, because the more help we can get the better at this point.  Yesterday, she took Q for the day and Tia and I got out to see a movie and run a few errands.  All told, we had probably 5 hours on our own.  It was like finally being able to breath again.  We are both so grateful for her help and both so wary of asking for too much of it lest we put too much burden upon her.  But honestly, I don't know what we would do without her.

Speaking of Q, he is stirring once again.   Wish us luck if you've any to spare.