The Trifecta

4 am wake up call= bad.  4 am wake up call with a wet and hungry child= really bad.  4 am wake up call with a wet, and hungry child in a Plavik Harness= disaster.

There are few things more annoying than trying to change a soaking wet infant while she is wearing a harness.  For one thing diapering a baby in a harness is quite a challenge.  The diaper must go under the harness for one thing.  All of those pretty cloth diapers I bought are now sitting by the wayside because the gap between the harness and the onesie and Colleen's body is quite narrow.  I am sure there is some way I could finagle this and get it to work, but quite honestly, the diapering is complex enough.

To take Colleen's diaper off is also quite the challenge.  First you have to fight with the flailing legs that pumping up and down and side to side.  You have to race to get the diaper off (while the tabs try to wind themselves around the various velcro straps of the harness), and get another one right under her in case she goes again.  The trick is to NOT get the harness soiled at all.  Try telling that to an infant who is already pissed because she is dirty and wants to eat NOW.  Jason's advice is to fold in the tabs so they are not sticky before attempting to take off the diaper.  Great advice- but quickly forgotten at this 4 am wake up call.  Needless to say, right as I was getting the new diaper on, Colleen let go a waterfall that would have impressed Niagara.  So off comes the diaper again, off comes the harness, which is now trying to wind its way around me like a contemptuous snake, and off comes the onesie.  By this time, Colleen is really ticked off.  She is wet, hungry, cold, naked, and did I say hungry?

I sat there for a moment and debated.  Yes, a clean onesie, sleep sack and diaper were a must.  But would she be ok if I left her out of the harness for a few hours?  I glanced at the harness, which lurked menacingly in the corner of the bassinet, and decided yes, a total nuclear meltdown would be a lot worse than a few hours harness free.

Crisis solved.  Until about 7 am when she pooed on yet another onesie, and then threw up on the next.

Colleen's impressive bodily functions:3
Onesies and Plavik Harness: 0


Lesson learned: quieting a nearly screaming infant who is traumatized by urine and hunger is far more important in the long run than a few hours without a harness.

Lesson learned: Must get more larger sized onesies, because the smaller ones don't work with the harness unless you don't snap them up.  This gets even more annoying because then her shirt rides up and she gets cold.