Happy Days Are Here Again!

A miracle has happened!  For the first time in over 7 months, I got 8 hours of sleep!  

Saturday night we put Ginny to bed at 7 p.m. like we normally do.  She fell right to sleep.  She did have a period of fussing around 10 or 11, but after putting the paci back in her mouth, she fell right back to sleep.  I was asleep by 10 p.m., anticipating being woken around 4 a.m. for her usual feeding.  Instead, I woke at 5 a.m. and realized that Ginny hadn't woken me.  I was in a bit of a panic.  I went to her room and saw that she was still sleeping (okay, I actually put my hand on her back to make sure she was alive).  Then, on my way back, I did a happy dance and said a silent cheer to myself.  

Ginny, sound asleep, with Elfie!

My baby girl slept the night through!  A first!!

Ginny slept until 6 a.m. Since it was the time change that night, it meant that she got 12 hours sleep.  Chris and I celebrated that wonderful Sunday morning.  It was a good day.

I fully expected that this would be a temporary situation, and that Ginny would resort to old habits and not sleep the night through again.  I have been pleasantly surprised.  She has slept at least 11 hours in a row every night since.  She does have a crying jag or two in the middle of the night but goes right back to sleep once getting her paci.  

While I'm sure we will again run into irregular sleep when the next tooth comes in or when she hits her next growth spurt, for now I will enjoy having sleep and no longer dealing with sleep deprivation.  After being spoiled with sleep, I now may reconsider trying for a 2nd baby in the near future.  

(Okay, I'm lying on that last part but I do love finally getting sleep.)

Sleep?

I know I did a post about sleep deprivation, but it needs to be repeated.

I am soooo tired!! Just when I think Ginny is becoming a better sleeper, she changes her mind. I've got her on a nap schedule, morning and afternoon.  She does okay with it.  It really depends on the day.  Sometimes she will sleep 40-60 minutes in the morning and then 1-2 hours in the afternoon.  Some days, though, she will only sleep 20 minutes in the morning and 45 minutes in the afternoon.

At night, she is in her crib by 7 p.m. and usually falls right to sleep.  For a few weeks she would sleep until about 2 a.m. for a feeding and then sleep until 7 a.m.  That did not last.  Now her sleeping is more sporadic.  The other night, I think she decided to be nostalgic for her first few weeks of life because she woke every 2-3 hours for a feeding.  She should be sleeping more, but we are struggling through two things right now--teething and another growth spurt.

I miss sleep. I need sleep. I want sleep.

More than that, I want Ginny to get some sleep.  A sleepy baby can be a crabby and impatient baby.  Ginny is a very happy baby most days, but without the necessary sleep she gets cranky a bit quicker than normal. Hopefully, her first 2 teeth come in soon so maybe she starts sleeping better again. Hopefully.

Sleep Deprivation: Being a New Mom

Before I gave birth to Ginny, I struggled with sleep like many women in the last trimester do.  On top of that, I was fatigued.  It was not the best feeling---wanting sleep and not getting it.  People would tell me that it was God's way of preparing mothers.  My response was that if God was trying to prepare us for motherhood then He should give us as much sleep as possible before the baby is born.

To this day, I think my assessment is correct.  The sleep deprivation of the 3rd trimester is entirely different than that of being a new mom.  When I was in that last couple of months, I knew that I would be going without sleep once the baby arrived.  I was not wrong.  I will say this, though.  The sleep deprivation of a new mom usually comes without the additional fatigue.  At least, now, I feel like I do get rest when I sleep, as opposed to when I was pregnant.

Ginny will be 6 months old in a couple of days.  She is still not sleeping the night through.  We have gone from being up every hour or two to sleeping in 5-6 hour chunks. That means that I have now been sleep deprived for 6 months.  Actually more if you include my last 2 months of pregnancy.  Quite frankly, I'm getting tired of being tired.  It is so bad that now I am grateful for getting 6 hours of sleep in a row.  My ultimate fantasy now is to get 10 hours of sleep....just once.  8 hours of sleep in a row will suffice and make me very happy. Someday....right?

Napping--Day 2

Yesterday didn't go too awful in my attempts to get Ginny to nap in her crib.  Granted, they didn't go great either.  After I laid her down, she was fine....for 5 minutes.  Then she started to fuss and cry.  I went in to sooth her and then left.  She stayed quiet (and asleep) for 10 minutes.  Again, she fussed and cried.  Again I went in and soothed her then left.  The next go, she stayed asleep and quiet for 15 minutes. Repeat for me again. I like that each time she increased 5 minutes.  I then decided to take this new "free" time and clean our master bath.  While doing so, I heard Ginny starting to fuss, but ignored it (there was no crying so this made it easy).  I could hear her starting to entertain herself and was able to finish my task.  In total, she spent one hour in her crib with only about 40 minutes of that napping.  Not too bad for the first day.

That afternoon I decided I wouldn't lay in her crib for afternoon naps until we had established the morning nap routine a bit more.  My plan is to start adding the afternoon crib nap toward the end of the week.

Now it is day 2 of setting up this lovely nap routine.  I added a new component.  I set up my iPod in her room and have it playing classical music quietly in the background.  She has now been down for 8 minutes and while she fussed a bit in the first 2 minutes, there was no crying or need for me to go in there.  I laid her down while she was awake yet sleepy.  Part of me wants to peek in, but the other part is afraid that this will disturb her.  No matter what, though, today is already much improved over yesterday's attempts. That would make any mom happy, I believe.