I've never seen my husband like this. He's a diva when it comes to Gloria. When we go out to dinner or to visit friends she "has to wear her FANCY clothes" (aka not a onesie). He's a very frugal spender, except when we're shopping for her. If I want a new shirt (he's the financial planner and budget-person of the family) I have to write a five-page dissertation on why a new shirt will be beneficial for everyone, the economic breakdown, and how a new shirt will further world peace. The other day we went to buy Gloria a hat to keep the sun out of her eyes, and we came home with TWO hats in different styles, and a new sundress. And that was after I had to physically drag him away from the section of tiny shoes. It's annoyingly adorable.
Today we went to Mt. Hope Cemetery. It's my favorite place. It's a rural cemetery on a landscape that has been sculpted by glaciers. I was thrilled that my little family got to spend a sunny day there.
Gloria's new-found obsession with rolling over has put us in a problematic spot. She won't sleep at night because she's constantly rolling over onto her stomach. However, she's also in the age of highest incidence of SIDS and her doctor said she is too young to be sleeping on her stomach (the Back to Sleep Campaign found that putting baby to sleep on her back reduced SIDS by over 70%, which is not a statistic that I am willing to mess with).
However, Gloria's doctor also said that if Gloria was rolling over onto her stomach at six months, which is when most babies learn this trick, she would be telling us to just let her sleep on her stomach.
The compromise that she came up with is to allow her to roll over in her sleep, but to use the AngelCare Baby Monitor. The monitor is placed under her mattress and detects breathing by monitoring the slightest movement in the crib. It ticks each time she breathes, and a little light flashes. If she stops breathing for more than twenty seconds, an alarm sounds.
This has put Mike and I into New Parent Paranoia Code Red. New Parent Paranoia is a terrible condition as it is, but previously it had decreased into a manageable Yellow level. Now we count time with the ticking of this monitor. It's a crazy mind frame where I can recognize the irrational level of caution we're taking, but I'm also not willing to downgrade and risk even the slightest increase in the chance of SIDS. I don't know how anyone lives after the death of their child.
But it's getting late and I'm off to lie in bed and stare at a little green flashing light. Motherhood is going to give me ulcers.
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