She Won't Stop Crying!!

My wonderful daughter was born almost 13 years ago, and, like most parents, it has not been gravy. But there is one event that stands out to me as one of the biggest crises I had to deal with as a parent.

It was precisely 6 days after I became a parent.

She was born at a military hospital in Texas, and as a soldier, I was given a week off to take care of both baby and mom. All seemed to be going well, until my wife got sick. She was unable to sleep, and we both decided that she needed to goto the hospital and get looked at.

So, she left me with my newborn daughter and went to the doctor's to see what she could get, as she looked and felt horrible.


All seemed to be going well, until my daughter woke up, hungry.

She had been nursing, and so when I tried to feed her it would have been the first time using a bottle. Normally, from what I understand, it is easier feeding from a bottle than nursing naturally, but of course I am not that lucky. She would not take from the bottle, and there was nothing that I could do to persuade her from feeding from that bottle.

And still she cried.

And cried.

And wailed.

And I was getting more and more frustrated that I could not calm this 6 day old girl.

So, I did what any guy would do, as least what I thought any guy would do.

I called my mommy.

And she was not home.

Or at work.

So, I called my mother-in-law.

And she was not available, either.

So, after anguishing and trying everything in my power as a father of this child to get her to calm down and feed her, anything to get her to stop crying, I did what any good soldier would do.

I called my Platoon Leader's wife.

She answered the phone and I immediately felt relief. I told her my predicament, and she calmed me down and told me that everythingwas going to be OK, that this was sort of a common occurence. Not to worry, that she would evenually ho back to sleep, and that Tamm

It helped, but only sort of. She was still crying, and I was worried not only for my sanity, but my wife. I had not heard from her in a while, and was concerned that something was wrong.

As it turned out, she has some sort of infection, and they wanted to keep her at the hospital for a couple of days. She informed them that she had a newborn at home and that her husband needed her, and she had a baby to take care of. So, reluctantly, they let her go and gave her some antibiotics. With the antibiotics she would no longer beable to nurse, but at this point she did not care; she was really sick and wanted to sleep.

Back at home, my daughter is still crying, and I am still frantic. Finally, after what seemed like forever, my wife returned home, anttbiotics in hand. She looked at me and could tell that I was flustered. She took the baby, and almost immediately stoppped crying, and withni a few minutes had taken the bottle ans was eating.

I felt both stupid and relieved. I guess a mother's touch is all thst it needed.

One of these days, all these almost 13 years later, it will be payback time....