Anna || HS

Anna 2- CHAPTER 26

February 2018~

Harry- 24
Anna- 23
August- 15 Months Old
Robin- 1 Month Old

~January 31st, 2018~

Harry POV:

Robin is one month old today. Let me tell you, it has been ONE HELL OF A MONTH.

The first few days went very similar to August's. We were able to come home on January 2nd, in the evening, after staying to have them keep an eye on Anna's tear and stitches for an extra day. Jeff and I wanted to avoid her having to come back, because that was the more problematic hospitalization last time. Plus, the amenities at Cedars-Sinai were unheard of, and we wanted another day to take advantage of them.

When we got home, that was when the shit really hit the fan. We had asked Viv to focus almost exclusively on helping with August once the baby came home, but he wanted Anna. Mostly because there was a new baby who needed her attention more than he did. Of course, he wouldn't come to me or Elinor, so that meant that when Anna wasn't feeding Robin, she was entertaining August, and you could see the exhaustion and frustration building each day that this continued.

Feeding Robin became its own thing, as well. Starting her second week, she cried. All. The. Time. If she wasn't attached to Anna, she was unhappy. The pediatrician threw words around like 'colic' and the lactation specialists threw words around like 'elimination diet'. That lead to Anna systematically cutting out whole food groups in an attempt to figure out if something she was eating was causing all the fuss. In the end, they figured out nothing and referred us to a chiropractor and a different pediatric allergist.

The allergist ran some tests and also came up with nothing that should be causing the level of upset at our Robin was throwing, so we went on to meet with the chiropractor. He gently adjusted her to aid in better digestion, and alignment in general. After her visits she would sleep soundly for a couple hours, but once she woke up, it was back to the same.

So, at her one-month appointment, this morning, the consensus was that she is just a colicky baby, and that she will hopefully grow out of if sometime over the next few weeks, or possibly months. I watched Anna's entire body fall in rejection of the information, as she held the infant who constantly emits a low hum of whining, if not full-on crying. It's soul-crushingly exhausting in a way that August never was.

We leave the appointment and buckled Robin into the backseat of the car. Anna has been riding back there with her, so she doesn't scream the entire way. Recently, however, I have learned that if you put her in the car, and turn on some white noise and drive, she often falls asleep. As long as you can keep the car moving, you get some peace and quiet. "Come up here, my love. I'll drive and you two can sleep between appointments.

Anna plopped in the front seat of the Range Rover. Tony waved at us from the car he is in behind us. I called him on his cell to tell him the plan. Knowing that we were going to be driving for a while, he ducked into the Starbucks on the corner to use the restroom and came back with giant coffees for all three of us. I rolled down the windows and grabbed our cups from him and he shot sympathetic looks our way. "Find out anything helpful?" he asked, because we had told him about hoping to get some new ideas at the doctor. "They are labeling it colic, so nope."

"Well, if is any consolation, my daughter had terrible colic and by the time she was three months old, and I had to go back to work, she was over it."

Another two months of this? There is no way. "Thanks, Tony. We are going to try and drive. Thinking we will head towards north. We have to be back down here for Anna's appointment at 2:00."

"I'll follow you, Mr.Styles."

An hour and a half into the drive, everyone is asleep. I take the moment to finally hear myself think. Tomorrow is my birthday, and it seems so strange to me that I am in the car with my wife, driving my newborn daughter around so she will sleep. Not sure that anyone could have convinced me that this would be my reality at twenty-four. Most days, I'd tell you that it is wonderful reality, but today I'm out of energy, inspiration, motivation and soon- miles on the road. So, today, it is just the day before my birthday.