Sleep Problems

Then...

Now...


We all had a very tiring, sleep deprived weekend. I should start by acknowledging that we are very lucky when it comes to Jack and sleep. He is a great sleeper. From very early on, he slept through the night. And, he is usually on a very good schedule, sleeping from 7:30pm to 6am. (Most nights, anyway.) And, since I quit work, we even have some fairly good napping going on each day. This last weekend, however, was a challenge.

I should start by providing some background: I talk in my sleep; mumble is more like it, according to Stuart, which frustrates him because he can't really understand me. Since Jack was born, it has apparently gotten worse. I have been known to sing lullabies in my sleep (not cute as I am not a good singer.) Apparently, I also ask Stuart to check on Jack in the middle of the night (I think he might be exaggerating this one, but whatever.)

Anyway, we bought this great baby monitor that includes a motion sensor to ensure your baby is breathing. If it doesn't detect any movement for 20 seconds, it sounds an alarm. Very reassuring to parents who worry about their baby breathing. Well, Jack is a restless sleeper and rolls all around his crib at night. He often ends up tangled in his blanket, crammed into a corner, or sleeping with his feet up against the walls of the crib. This usually isn't a problem since the monitor is very sensitive and picks up the movement anywhere in the crib. On Friday night, however, he was so far in the corner of his crib that the sensor couldn't detect his movements and the alarm went off just after midnight, sending both Stuart and I into instant panic mode. Jack was just fine. In fact, the alarm startled him and he moved right back into position where the sensor could monitor him and he didn't even wake up. I, however, was a mess after that, waking every 30 minutes to check on him. Once I finally fell asleep, I had quite the nightmare. You know the one where you try to scream, but nothing comes out? And you panic and try harder and harder to scream with no luck? It's terrifying. Well, I guess at some point I actually did scream, because I woke up to being slapped in the face. Not once, mind you, but twice. Now, Stuart claims he was sleeping soundly, when I started screaming. He said he tried to wake me gently and only resorted to a gentle slap when I wouldn't wake up. (I'm not sure I buy this and I really don't understand why a second slap was necessary.)

So, our weekend got off to a lousy start. Jack, was all off his routine, not really napping until very late in the afternoon and then not going down to sleep until very late in the evening. So, we are a bit tired. I am now all hopped up on caffeine this morning just to try and function!