And she sleeps!
I keep thinking C will one day sleep through the night. Just one day. I haven’t held out much hope that she’ll start sleeping through the night every night, but it just seemed like sooner or later it would happen at least once - even if only by chance.
Well, last night was the night. C is just over thirteen months old, and for the first time ever in her life, she slept through the night.
She was down at nine o’clock. At one, I thought “wow, she’s still asleep.” At three and four, I thought “wow, she’s still asleep.” At five, I could hardly get back to sleep, I was so excited.
Maybe next time - three or four months from now, I’m sure - I’ll actually benefit from her sleeping through the night. What are my chances?
Well, that couldn’t've gone much worse
My first night alone with the Bug did not go well.
I got her to bed by 9 o’clock, and I was thinking I had success. Things were off to a good start. And I followed her to bed within thirty minutes, knowing that even the best case scenario had me getting less sleep than usual.
Well, I didn’t see the clock the first time she woke up, but I think it was around twelve. Again, things were looking good. C fussed and I bolted out of bed. I patted her on the back for a minute, and she was back in the land of wink, blink, and nod.
Within an hour, though, she was fussing again. This time she was already standing up in her bed when I got to it, so I pulled her in bed beside me and gave her a bottle.
That’s when things completely ceased to go well. C clearly understood that her mother wasn’t there, and it was equally clear that she wasn’t happy about it, either. By four o’clock, I, too, was unhappy that Katie wasn’t there. I think I even started to imagine that she was there. I could almost see her, and I wanted to say, like she occasionally has said to me, “Katie … you’ve got to take a turn.”
But she did get back to sleep, albeit fitfully. For the last hour and a half of potential sleep, C slept very fitfully. If I moved, she fussed, or she would sit up and the flop back down. It wasn’t pretty, and I feel every bit of it.
Lucky for me, Katie will be back tonight, and I can’t wait to see the look on the Bug’s face when she sees her mama for the first time in nearly two days.
And she’s asleep
Katie left for Texas this morning at 4, and I am minutes away from starting my first ever night alone with the Bug.
Yes, Katie does the lion’s share of the overnight duties. C generally wakes up 3ish times overnight, and Katie gets up, gets her out of her bed, and soothes her back to sleep … or occasionally gets up with her and rocks her back to sleep when she’s not feeling well.
For the past year, I have helped here and there with overnight stuff, such as this morning when Katie left while it was still “night” to me. But I’d be lying if I said I was looking forward to tonight’s festivities.
Katie tends to notice the Bug’s needs before I get a clue that anything’s amiss. Last night I distinctly remember thinking - at about two in the morning - “wow, how did Katie hear C fussing? Did she really fuss, or did Katie maybe dream it?” No, Katie didn’t dream it.
Did I mention how much I am looking forward to this night?
Spoke too soon
A few days ago, I remarked to my mother “gee, isn’t it nice how C has been sleeping so much better lately?”
A while back we went to extreme measures to make a bedroom out of a closet here at the office. We darkened windows and built up the ambient noise, and we put a nice rocking chair in there for her to be rocked to sleep before being placed in bed.
For several weeks, the ploy worked. This week, however, it has absolutely failed. Not very promising for the future, and I’m kinda bummed about it.
C was clearly ready for her nap at two o’clock this afternoon, but by 2:30 she was back up running around, after an abortive nap that lasted about twenty minutes. I was quite excited a few weeks ago when the nap plan appeared to be working well. It makes this lack of nappiness even worse.
And she sleeps
After at least a month - I’ve lost track - of the Bug sleeping horribly, she has now slept well two nights in a row. For the last month, she’s fussed pretty much every thirty minutes all night long.
And her sleep last night should’ve been relieving. I think it really helped Katie, but I slept just as poorly. All night long I kept thinking thoughts like “it’s quiet … Katie told me to take over C care, and it’s quiet because she fell off the bed!”
Finally, when she woke up feeling a normal amount of fussy around 4, I was relieved to hear her cry! I only slept well that last hour and a half, knowing that Katie had her and she was acting normally.
Like night and day
I can’t believe this, but I’m going to have to wake the Bug too take her home.
For weeks, we’ve been struggling with getting C to sleep at the office. She used to sleep here very well, but that suddenly stopped a few weeks ago. After then, she’d sleep only if you held her - obviously impossible in an office setting.
So Katie recommended creating a new napping room for her. We set up a bed, covered the windows (I’d tried this before but not so deliberately) and made sure there was white noise. We put a chair in there to use for getting her in bed easily - and back in bed easily if she were to wake up prematurely (which she did).
The Bug has now been asleep for two hours, and her father is about ready to clock out for the day. With any luck, I can get her straight from her isolation chamber to the car without really waking her.
This is a Good Thing.
Why oh why won’t she sleep in her bed?
The baby has stopped sleeping in her bed (read: pack n play) at the office. She can be dead asleep, but if you try to put her in bed, she wakes screaming and won’t stop.
She still sleeps in her bed at home - even for naps on weekends. Why won’t she sleep in her bed here?
What, me sleep?
It all started on Friday. The Bug had a good nap in the morning, lasting about 45 minutes. Then when I tried to put her down for a nap in the afternoon - she was already asleep - she started screaming when she touched the mattress. I got her back to sleep on my lap and tried again the transfer to the bed, and once again I got screams. C and I ended the day on Friday sans nap.
This morning I tried to look past Friday’s lack of naps. The Bug fell happily asleep in my lap around 10. I did what I always did; I picked her up and put her gently down in her bed.
Screams.
I tried getting her back to sleep, but she was now wide awake. A new tactic was required.
I gave up on sleep for the moment and took C for a nice, thirty minute walk around the neighborhood. When we got back, I gave her a bottle, and she drifted gently off to sleep. She was down for the count. I waited about ten minutes, and tried again to put her in bed.
Screams.
She’s now playing happily at my feet (perhaps she doesn’t need sleep so much right now?). She loves the board books.
Well, at least we’re making progress with “no.”
Obviously, she woke up
Obviously, from looking at my last post, the Bug awoke within seconds of hitting publish.
Sometimes, it’s hard to get her to stay asleep. Yesterday was an awesome day, and I had fun hanging out with her (hanging out with E wasn’t as “fun,” because he was too sick to do anything other than watch tv), but I never got the two to three hour stretch of nap time I was expecting.
First she was wakened by H cleaning the hall bookshelves; then it was H talking on the phone. Obviously, neither time was his fault. Then she fell asleep in the stroller but awoke on returning to the house.
But we did eventually get some good time together outside. I put some music on and gave her a few toys. I must’ve sat on the porch for an hour, just watching her be happy. She played with one toy, then the next, then wanted to play the stand and sit game, and then it was back to her toys.
It’s a rough life.
I’m sure I’m jinxing myself
I can’t believe the Bug is still asleep!
Usually, she sleeps in her bed until around two in the morning, and after that is a mixed bag - she might wake every fifteen minutes and fuss, or she might sleep pretty well.
Last night was the exception. She slept until four, and went back to sleep pretty easily. She’s almost always awake by 6:30 or 7, but now it’s almost 8 and I’m going to have to wake her up to get ready for E’s doctor appointment.
It’d be nice if she slept this well on the weekend!
edit: forgot to click publish at 8.
Once again
Once again the Bug is asleep.
What to do, what to do.
