So you come in search of tales from Grandma's visit? And perhaps hints of where I've been for the past week & a half? Well my friends, you shall not be rewarded until I get another nap, because for the past two nights or so I've been in hell. Or at least some sort of purgatory. It is a place of soul-shattering screams directed squarely at my inner ear & what little sanity I have left. We're talking Jamie Lee Curtis horror film festival scream proportions here. There's nothing wimpy about about this gal's lungs even though I've been told she has the cutest little girly cry ever.
It seems my dear doodles suddenly does not want to go to sleep in her usual time & fashion anymore. Since we received the crib she'd been doing great, going down pretty easily around 7 or 7:30 every night and then I'd transfer her to our bed when I was ready to go nighty-night. This could be anywhere from 8 - 11ish but it didn't seem to matter when because she'd barely wake up & I'd nurse her back to sleep quickly. When Grandma arrived we had a couple of fussy evenings but I racked it up to being perhaps a growth spurt or maybe too much excitement or even some gas. (That gas is a whole other issue.) Anyway it wasn't too bad & it was nice to be able to blame Grandma (heh heh, just kidding mom!) for our cranky baby. Sadly now she is gone so I'm feeling the full brunt of guilt for not being able to soothe my very very upset monkey.
Wednesday night I put her down in the crib but she woke up crying halfway through ANTM (best show evah!) so I went to check on her & then the screaming started. It appeared to be gas since she was drawing her legs up & squirming so I picked her up & preceeded to rock her for the next hour & a half. All I can say is thanks to any & all deities that I bought that sling or my arms would've been toast (they were already sore from holding her in my arms for about 45 minutes in IKEA a couple of days prior because she wouldn't fall asleep in said sling). She finally fell asleep fitfully when The Amazing Race was over after bouncing, rocking, singing, cuddling, attempting to nurse, sucking snot out of nose, administering gas drops, burping & cradling finally wore her out. Then daddy came home (after not answering his stupid cell phone) and I tried to put her down on the bed only to have the screaming begin again. Your turn dude. I think it went on for another 45 minutes but I'm really not sure because my zombie brain can only think about napping & having a beer or an espresso. Plus I went downstairs to watch some more tv (I know it's pathetic).
So she finally goes to sleep, the deep sleep of the nosferatu & then wakes up all chipper & sunshiney like nothing ever happened only to go through the same proceedings the following night. Last night she did not want to go to bed & cried every time we tried to put her in the crib. Normally we'll let her whimper & fuss a bit because she'll invariably fall asleep. Nope. She had to be up & hanging out with us until about 8:30 when her head started nodding. Up to bed & onto the scream festival again. I tried to nurse her but you know when you cry & your nose gets stuffed up? Well the poor little thing couldn't breathe while suckling so that pissed her off even more. I think Calvin finally got her to sleep around 10:15 by shaking her rattle teddy bear thing at her for several minutes. Holy crap.
I've read a ton of books, articles & opinions on the web about sleep regressions, teething, growth spurts, developmental spurts & also about all sleep training, Ferberizing & attachment parenting but none of it helps when you are in the middle of a scary monster baby moment. I know it'll change, it's just a phase, blah blah blah, but if we are in for more than a week of this I think I will lose my mind. Right now she's having a nap oh so peacefully in the crib. I should be taking this opportunity to sleep myself but since she didn't want to go back to lalaland this morning when I did, I drank too much coffee so I could function semi-humanly and now I couldn't doze off if I tried. Man, this the most negative post I think I've written since the 3am heartburn incident. I'll try and be better tomorrow folks.
P.S. Family party picture links to come soon plus pics from Grandma's visit.
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Sleep - never in my pre-children life did I imagine how many hours would be spent trying to get baby to sleep, wondering why baby wasn't asleep, mourning the loss of my own sleep, remembering how blissfully I used to sleep. Yah.
My friend Nancy has a theory, that you wait it out 10 days. It almost always goes away before then. Hopefully much sooner for you!
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