This last week has been hard..
Aed and I didn't go to church on Sunday because he was up every hour of Saturday night from when we put him down to when we got him up. He then proceeded to cry all morning and afternoon, only sleeping for half an hour. At first we thought he was just being resistant to sleeping.. but then he continued. And he couldn't be comforted.
We decided to take him to the 'after hours' physician (equivalent to the 'on call' doctor or the emergency room) and found out his ears were really red and he likely had a bit of a virus - hence the not sleeping.
We were actually thankful that his ears were red. We obviously don't enjoy seeing our child suffer, but it was a huge relief to take him on an emergency trip to the hospital and find there actually was an obvious reason for his crying. It is incredibly discouraging when that happens and there is no apparent reason.
Then, Sunday night, running on 1.5 hours of sleep for the whole day and very little the night before.. He slept awesome. And it was great.
But then he didn't do it again. He kept waking up and waking up every single night. Sometimes every two hours, sometimes every three. We have been very exhausted and confused about what this kiddo is doing.
We found out on Tuesday when we went for his immunizations that his ears were back to normal. We were glad for that. And more confused about the waking.
Some night during the week, we decided to leave him to cry a bit when he woke up too close to the previous feeding to really be hungry.. just to see what would happen (and possibly because we were so tired we just didn't want to get up again.. maybe).
He was asleep again within five minutes.
This has been our continuing strategy. This, and also eliminating one of his naps during the day. He has only had three naps during the day for the last two days. I like it! It's really fun to have him awake for longer, and I actually think he likes it too. He still woke up two extra times last night, but was back to sleep quickly so hopefully those will disappear soon enough.
Honestly, every day I am more thankful for this baby. I have always been thankful for him. Even in our darkest moments if you looked into my heart, you would have found gratitude for motherhood. It is so exciting to watch him grow and figure things out. He is more actively playing with his toys, and obviously delights in them now. He is much more mellow and hasn't minded being kept up for longer during the day (as long as the paci is handy! :). We've gone out for walks with him sitting up in the stroller like a big boy. He's had a taste of pear juice and oatmeal.
He changes every day.
All that to say, I am thankful that things are looking up. I'm sure it will all change again in a heartbeat, but it's one day at a time in the Church household!
Pictures are coming soon! :)
Corrie,
ReplyDeleteI'm so sorry to hear about the difficult sleeping. I know how terribly hard that is. Janie didn't sleep through the night until she was well over a year old (issues like reflux, intolerance to dairy protein, etc. were not helpful for the situation). I think the Lord used it to show me that my strength was in him alone, although I know that's a perpetual lesson! I'll be praying for you, that Christ would give you strength even in your most tired moments, and that he would give you physical rest.
(Stevie)
Thanks Stevie! That's really sweet of you. The hardest part is definitely finding the things the Lord wants me to see in all of it - encouraging to hear good things from someone on the other side! :)
ReplyDeleteCorrie, I feel your pain! Cameron has never been a great sleeper, and we have lost a lot of sleep this week, too, because he has a cold. As I write this, I am listening to him scream his way to a nap... We have decided we need to stop giving him his nuk because he is biting holes in it and it's a choking hazard! It's going to be a tough de-tox. This little piece of plastic is his best buddy. So we can pray for each other in the dark hours of sleep training!
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