Amanda’s Musings

Ok, if you have more than two kids then I have a question for you. What’s your secret? How do you do it? I now understand what that strange smile meant when I mentioned being tired after having Keziah to those with more than one child. I know what you were thinking and not saying…”ahh, wait until you have more than one…then the fun starts!”. I knew it would be a juggling act but I don’t think I quite knew how many balls there’d be.

Lucinda is not even a month old and I feel as if I’ve been thrown in the deep end. In this last week she has been diagnosed with silent reflux. The sound a baby with reflux makes is not nice, it sounds as if she has some sort of chest infection with a gurgly cough and snuffly nose. Earlier in the week we were getting ready to take her down to the after hours GP as I was sure she was sick when a good friend Jono (who’s a doctor) dropped by and checked her for us. He confirmed that she has reflux (silent = little or no throwing up) not an infection so I breathed a sigh of relief.

Only two days later I was making another Doctor’s appointment as Kezi had develped a cough that was getting worse. Turns out she has bronchitis, which is contagious so my level of stress went up a few more notches as I worried that she’d pass it on to Luci. I’m convinced that its the prayers of those who I let know about this that have stopped this happening.

The other night I sat down at 2am to feed Luci and at the same time Kezi was coughing and spluttering in her room and crying out for me. That’s when I realised that this is what the deep end feels like. Actually, it must just be the ‘middle of the pool’ because the deep end must be reserved for those with more than two kids (you are my new heroes). In the end I had to take Luci with me into Kezi’s room to settle her and just hold her away from Kezi (I have to hold Luci upright for half an hour after each feed because of the reflux). I was out of bed more that night than I was in it and I’m still feeling exhausted two days later. Ok, I expect that I’ll probably feel this way for a few years to come.

Actually, no, don’t tell me the secret, I don’t need to know. I’m quite happy with having two kids, don’t plan on having any more. You can keep your cards held closely to your chest, what I need is someone to teach me to juggle!