2.01.2008

Yanked off my island...

I've left my little denial island. It seems like the real freak accidents were the 2 full nights last week...

Yummy has been up from about 1 to 4 AM every single night this week. Oh, we can get her back to sleep, but as soon as we leave the room, bang! She's wide awake and screaming. Even if she has been sleeping for over 30 minutes: S tried last night. She has to feel a hand, or a very close proximity. And she basically refuses to nap unless she's about to collapse from exhaustion. Yesterday, at 1PM, she had only slept 3 hours since 1 AM the night before, and I finally got her to nap for a bit over an hour. Needless to say, we are dealing with a needy, clingy, cranky baby these days...

For three nights, we tried letting her cry, going in every 5-10 minutes (yeah, I know, weren't supposed to because she's adopted and all. But she had been crying without any tears whatsoever, the kind of cry that's hard to take too seriously). She never fell asleep in less than 1h30 during that "experiment". So two nights ago, we decided to go back to the "no cry" way, with the result that she's up for 3 hours instead. And the added bonus that she totally freaked out when S put her in the crib last night, and took 45 minutes to calm down. Some will say it serves us right...

After looking at our (limited) options, we decided to give co-sleeping a try last night, in the guest bed right outside her room: not good! S was doing the night shift, and he said that she got all excited and thought it was play time, as when we stay in her room during those hours, she'll simply let herself be picked up and rocked, and stays quiet in our arms, looking at us.

I did the count, we spend 5-6 hours a day trying to get her to sleep 8-9 hours a day... not good... We don't know what to do or how to do things better. When not in my arms, she's within 5 feet of me ALL DAY LONG! I can't leave the room without her crying anymore, unless she's with dad, when I used to be able to leave for a minute or two and she would be fine. If we leave the house, it's only for an hour or two in the afternoon, in the baby backpack or in the stroller facing me.

This is starting to take a big toll on everything, as we don't see the end of it, or even a glimmer of hope. There have been lots of tears, and not just baby ones. Let's just say that we couldn't quite be the poster parents for adoption these days...

BUT! We are not giving up! Oh no baby! There is now a mattress on the floor in her room, some lullaby music on repeat on the iPod, sent by a lovely member of my support crew, and a little glimmer of hope after two naps without fuss today!


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Last year, in April, I went to Paris alone for a week, to visit, walk, rest, and hang out in cool cafes. I had found a fantastic little hotel, two-star-that-maybe-could-be-three, right in the middle of everything. Sunny skies and temperature in the upper 70's all week. It was one of my best vacation ever, and definitely the best alone! Let's just say I've been longing to be back really, really badly lately...

The view from my room














The view, but sadly, not from my room...








3 commentaires:

Mutha Mae a dit…

You have my sympathies. You really do!

Anonyme a dit…

Sorry the sleep thing is so difficult, but it sounds completely normal. It won't last forever, I promise. Whenever Lyra is going through a new stage of development she has trouble sleeping. It sounds like Yummy is about to be walking and i wouldn't be surprised if she's more excited about walking than sleeping right now. Lyra sleeps on a mattress by our bed and never slept in a crib. When she gets more comfortable you'll be able to leave her on the mattress for longer periods of time. I feel the same way you do wondering about sleep problems, but Lyra always seems to make up for it somehow. And those good nights are interspersed with the bad!

Gen, Eric, Kyle, Alex and Laurie a dit…

Sleep deprivation is so tough...Big Hugs!