When the Baby won't Sleep...
She went down at 7pm just like every other night. I knew her teeth were bothering her as she has white caps poking up through every bare space of gum. The nightmare (for me) began around mid-night. I had been asleep for roughly 2 hours and I hear her fussing. I gave it a minute because it's not unusual to hear a little fuss out of her, then she goes right back to sleep. This time, she fussed for a few minutes before she began hollering "mommy." I knew this was not a good sign.
I went in her room and kissed her head (no fever, thank goodness). I gave her a drink a water and tucked her back in. I told her it was "night night" and she needed to sleep. She responded with a "Uh-huh" and I slipped out of her room. All was quiet as I slipped back in bed. I fell asleep quickly thinking all was well.
At 1am the screaming started again. My brain was immediately thrust back to when I was woken every few hours to feed a baby throughout the night. The start and stop of sleep that leaves you with a slight headache and feeling slightly crazed. I went back to her room and repeated the events from an hour ago. Still no fever, she was calmed as soon as I walked in her room, and there wasn't any obvious issues. I slipped out of her room and all was quiet once again.
At 2am I was jarred awake again and realized more needed to be done then just a sip of water and re-tucking in. I attempted to ask her if she hurt anywhere, but she couldn't really answer accurately (I asked if her mouth hurt and she said "yes" then I asked her if the refrigerator hurt and she said "yes.") Scott volunteered to move to the couch so she could "sleep" in our bed. I would have agreed to any solution that resulted in more sleep then I was currently getting.
I grabbed her sippy cup and stuffed doggie and we bedded down in my room. The baby, who I was previously worried didn't feel good, immediately began acting like a monkey complete with noises that sounded dead on like the monkeys at the zoo. I shhh'ed her and she laid down. In and out of sleep (me, not her) she began poking my face saying "pokey pokey pokey," she began patting my head and telling me "shhhh" (keep in mind I was being very quiet). At one point she climbed off the bed and took off running down the hall. I thought I was going to fall over as I staggered down the hall chasing the small figure in monkey pajamas. Sleep was not happening.
The rest of the night I felt her toss and turn next to me, demanding as much body contact as possible. She would lay across my head and sing songs then rapidly flip directions so her feet were resting on top of my stomach while she went through all the animal noises in her vocabulary. As the sun peeked through the blinds this morning, I found her standing in bed with one foot on my back, as though she was an explorer claiming the land she had discovered.
The next time Scott volunteers the bed to our children, I will join him on the couch and let the kids have the bed. I can't sleep next to this child.
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