Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Midnight

LB and I both had a rough time last night. She woke up at 11:30 and started crying. When I got to her room, the crying had morphed into high pitched screeching. I tried picking her up and rocking her, but she weighs about 23 lbs now, and stands to my mid thigh. She was having NONE of the "Hush little baby" act last night. She is over the croup, and didn't seem to be in pain, so I was at a loss to why she was so upset. The more I tried to hug her, the more she turned into cherry-faced, rigor-mortis toddler.

It was not pretty. I was finally able to calm her down by singing trusty Ole' "Over the Rainbow", but I continued to hear her whimpering on and off throughout the night.

Kind of made me wonder: Is she starting to have nightmares already? That makes me sad. What would make a 19 month old wake up screaming in the night? Maybe its her mom, who leaks stress hormones from her pores, 24 hours a day.

Once I was able to get back to sleep (around 1 am), my neighbor must have slammed the door real loud and I literally sat straight up in bed, heart pounding. Ok, breathe. I really need to relax.

All though Driving in blizzard conditions isn't helping me either.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

OMG! I'm so sorry for LB and for you. I hope you guys get a good nights sleep tonight. I'm sorry you've been so stressed still and take care of yourself. I'll see you soon. Much love =)

Mom24 said...

You never know, it could be an ear infection...even if she acts fine during the day. My kids have all done this, and it's SO HARD at night, they're just out of control. Good luck.

KarmaTee said...

I had to respond to what you wrote on Boots. I think you nailed it-- the loss of identity is the scariest thing about parenting. You have this whole image of yourself and this whole life built around that identity, and then kids come along and BAM everything changes and you no longer get to have that identity. It's hard enough to redefine yourself, but having it thrust upon you so suddenly and so irreparably is terrifying. That said, I know it's more rewarding that anyone without kids can even understand. I dunno. Choices, choices. Hope you got some sleep last night and that the babe is feeling better. Enjoy Snowdown!

Ice Cream said...

It sounds like she might very well be having "night terrors." The only way I could get my children through them at night was to fully wake them. A child can be sitting up, screaming, and wailing, but still be asleep. First, try giving them a drink of water from a cup. When it seemed so bad that nothing seemed to work I would give mine a luke warm bath and pour water down their front and back with a cup until they seemed to recognize me and where they were. Then I would dry them off, redress them, give them a drink of water, walk them around the house a bit while talking to them, then when they seemed sleepy I would sing them to sleep in my arms or in their bed.

Take heart in the fact that they usually go away after a few months.