Sleepless Nights

(or maybe all of this is caused by her wearing her grandparents' glasses. I need to pop out the lenses so she won't go blind...)

Last night marked night number 4 of interrupted sleep for us. Sunday night, Brylee woke up after trying to put her down without a bottle (trying to break her of the bottle, and didn't know if she really need the last meal of the night...apparently she did).

Monday night, Chester had a cluster of seizures, so Cary and I were up for 2 hours with that situation. I heard Brylee stirring at one point, and gave her some milk, thinking it would help her go back to sleep, which was successful. Chester is doing better today, thank goodness!

Tuesday night, Brylee had an unexplainable waking, with lots of crying. This is not usual for her at all, as she typically sleeps all night, and if she does wake up, she talks and babbles for a while before falling back into a deep slumber.

I thought this waking was because she had had a bottle 2 nights in a row, and was going to develop a habit, so I sat with her in her dark room, letting her look through books, and even just letting her cry a bit to see if she could self-soothe. An hour and a half later, she finally was back to sleep. With that, and the combination of the storms going through Dallas and being worried for my family and friends, I didn't sleep well at all that night.

And then last night, it happened again. Screaming, heart-wrenching crying, this time with Cary getting up to soothe her (hoping that she would go down more quickly because it wasn't mommy). An hour later, we were trying everything: water, milk, my making my bed on the floor next to her, looking through books, singing softly to her, massage...all with temporary (or no) results. Finally, I left the room to take a restroom break, and when I get out, she was no longer crying, just resting in her daddy's arms. So I stayed out of the room, and a couple of minutes later he emerged, stating that she was not sleeping, but at least she was quiet. After a few minutes of 'holding our breath', she was out again, and we were slowly able to go back to sleep.

I wrote on Facebook in the midst of all of this last night that I felt like a bad mommy, and my friends and family were very supportive, telling me what I was thinking: most likely growing pains or teething (though the teething tablets didn't help her).

Thanks for all of the great comments, and I hope that tonight brings better results. I hate seeing our little girl crying in such pain and frustration, and just desperate to be held by us. But it is super nice to know that I am not alone in this, and even the most experienced moms face this as well.

And a huge thank you hug goes to the best daddy/hubby. Thank you for soothing her and even soothing me when I feel so inadequate. We are blessed to have you, 24 hours a day!