Experiments.

I have removed dairy from my diet completely. When you have a baby that is only not crying when she is asleep and she only sleeps when she is in someone's arms, you start to consider trying things. Particularly when the crying is associated with lots of farting*. So, no milk in the tea, no more delicious yoghurt-nuts-and-fruit breakfasts, et cetera. I'm not a big dairy person to begin with, but for whatever reason, after I cut it out completely, all I wanted to eat was cheese on crackers.

Anyway. She seemed a little better starting on the first day and by 8 days, she was a lot better.. However, I know that correlation does not mean causation, so after 2 weeks, I ate some ice cream. Also, some cheese and crackers in the parking lot of a Tops Market situated in a ghetto in Rochester. This was yesterday. Last night, during a game of Carcasonne with our friends, she started crying again. And she didn't stop until about 3 hours ago.
I have not eaten any more dairy.

I'm also considering the fact that she also seems to have a really hard time following any social activity that we participate in. After a birthday gathering at the Farmer's Market, she spent 6 hours screaming and that night was poor sleeping for everyone. Before that, we tried a trip to a swimming hole with the Powells and not one of us slept at all that night. So that's three times and three bad nights.

This makes me sad and depressed and lonely feeling. Also scary: I can't seem to come up with a solution and so it feels like I am going to be stuck at home alone forever - taking the dogs out is even a bit tricky.

*Sometimes Ryan and I picture an adult with the same problems Elinor has. Like, imagine you had a roommate that cried and cried and cried before farting. You'd come home and find them on the couch just sobbing away - you'd think some close family member had died, the way they were carrying on. You'd say, "Oh no! What's wrong??" and between sobs, they'd say, "I just...I just... I really have to fart."

My Feet Are Back to Normal!

Between the last post and this post a lot has happened. One thing that has happened is that my feet returned to normal after getting, if you can believe it, worse.
Apparently, all I needed to do in order for that to happen was spend almost 5 days on IV fluids and synthetic hormones and then deliver the baby! Turns out this is also the cure for pregnancy-induced cholestasis, which I had as well. The main symptom of cholestasis? Being really, really itchy. I found out what caused the itchiness and also what the cure would be by calling a doctor to tell her I was really itchy and then being yelled at (really!) for not telling anyone sooner (I mean, everyone knows to call their doctor immediately when they are itchy, right?), as obstetric cholestasis has a high correlation with stillbirth.

All in all, a frightening and uncomfortable experience, culminating in 16 hours of labour and a bonny baby girl at 7:20am, Thursday, 21 June 2012.