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June 13, 2006

Happy Mommy

Last night was amazing.

(Sad that now when I utter that sentence it is in reference to sleep).

Let me back up by saying yesterday was awful. Dylan wouldn't take a nap for more than 10 minutes, which means I didn't get to take a nap all day. I was exhausted; Darren was exhausted, because the night before there was not a whole lot of sleeping. And then a middle-of-the-night poop made for even less sleeping. And then Dylan peed all over his clothes while I tried to change the poop, so I had to change the clothes and the ensuing nakedness caused my sweet child to morph into a banshee, waking Darren up. So we were both tired.

But last night - *happy sigh* - Dylan ate around 9:30pm and then went to sleep. We were worried. We did the math and 4 hours after 9:30 is 1:30am - and then 4 more hours is 5:30 - which means 2 middle-of-the-night feedings. Not only that, but 4 hours is a hopefully estimate. Sometimes feedings come 3 or even 2 1/2 hours after each other. After an exhausting day, it was too much to face. But we swaddled him up tight - a suggestion made by Darren the night before to try and get him to sleep which seems to work really well - and hoped for the best.

Around 1:00 am he started fussing a lot. I looked over into his pack-n-play and saw he had fussed himself right out of his swaddle. I was sure I'd have to get up and feed him but, ever hopeful, I swaddled him back up and lay down, waiting for the crying to start. The next thing I knew, it was 3:15 am. It was just 15 minutes away from 6 hours since the last feeding. (The pediatrician said this was ok at night, just not to let him go more than 4 during the day). He was starting to fuss anyway, so I got a bottle, warmed it up, and we had our middle-of-the-night snack.

I was sure after having slept for 4 1/2 hours he wouldn't go back down, but he did, and slept through until 7:15, giving us another 3 hours of sleep. (Well, giving me another 3 hours of sleep - Darren had to get up for work at 6:30).

If every night could be like that, I would be able to cope with anything during the day. Now we just have to work on the last feeding before bed being closer to 11:00, so six hours will get us straight through the night. Is that asking too much from an almost-one-month-old? Maybe a little. But every once in a while it's a nice gift. (I thanked Dylan profusely when I got him up to eat at 3:30).

Posted by Terri at June 13, 2006 01:27 PM

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