Charlie Pooped!!

The past couple of weekends, I have left the comfort of my green house for the comfort of another house…my in-laws' house on the lake. I have a couple of reasons for doing this.

1) Workaholic has been working a LOT and when I go to the lake, well…I have more help.

2) My green house is a mess. And when I am there, all I think about is food and laundry and vacuuming and food and what isn’t on TV.

3) When I go to the lake, I have more help. (my mother-in-law is there full-time, plus her friends come over and rock a crying baby to sleep, or play with an energetic toddler)

4) There is just something more calming about sitting on a porch listening to the waves lap at the boats than sitting in your house watching Ellen re-runs.

5) Did I mention that I have more help??

So my mother-in-law and I got to the lake on Thursday, and by Friday afternoon, Charlie had decided not to poop. Since Wednesday morning. And this made her cry…relentlessly. All afternoon. The two of us were fried, and thankfully Samantha took about a 4 hour nap. It was during this nap that I found myself sitting on the porch, looking out at the lake, just crying. I couldn’t stop, and I found myself getting upset with Workaholic for working so hard. Even if he sent his mother as a substitute (and she did a great job!), it wasn’t the same as having your husband there to help when your newborn daughter can’t shit and won’t stop yelling at you about it. And I was wondering how in the hell I was going to raise two kids, and would I really ever have the desire to have any more??

By Friday night, we had decided to go ahead and go to dinner at a friend’s house on the other side of the lake. I wasn’t too sure about this decision, but we did need to eat. Plus, more adults meant more people to help with my kids. (I’m shameless, yes, I know.) While we were there, Workaholic and his dad got there. I had been missing him, well, since before Charlie was born.

As soon as he walked in, I wanted to go fall into his arms and just cry. Charlie had been crying all day, I felt as though it was my turn. I wanted him to just wrap his arms around me and rock me and then I would grab the car keys and run. To the car and leave him and the kids behind. It was his turn, after all.

But I didn’t. I hung out and ate dinner and let other people hold my infant and entertain my toddler. And then it was time to go home. And Charlie still hadn’t pooped. And this is why I love Workaholic, and why I was missing him so much.

When we got back to the house, it was decided that everyone was getting a shower, except for me. I would be the one to take the kids out and dry them off and get them dressed. I had told Workaholic how I had called the pediatrician about the not pooping, and she told me to wait it out. And how I had read online about using a Q-tip to, um…help things along. (***Disclaimer…there may be strong feelings regarding what happened next, and you know what?? I don’t care…it worked and that is all that matters.)

And so, in all his Workaholic glory, he did it. While he had Charlie in the shower with him, he used a Q-tip and stuck it in her ass pooper. He had asked me if there would be an immediate response, to which I said, “Yeah…I don’t know.” If you are wondering, yes, there was an immediate response. And even after he handed her off to me, (after she pooped on his hand) and I wrapped her up in a towel, she pooped in the towel, twice!! And then when I put a diaper on her, she pooped in there too!! A lot!!! Dear God…thank you for letting my daughter poop. And thank you even more for giving me a husband who will do what it takes to make my daughter poop.

So today, so far, is a much better day than yesterday. Workaholic took one of the night feedings, and Charlie ate and then went back to sleep, just like she is supposed to. And after she was up for about an hour and a half this morning, I was able to swaddle her!! And get her to sleep without using me to go to sleep!!! It’s the little things. And those are what keep me going.