Acts of desperation

Cooper was diagnosed with pneumonia on Wednesday of last week.  As of yesterday morning, I had gotten about 10 hours of sleep, in total, during those 5 days.  I’m not completely sure why he would wake up every 30 or so minutes.  (once or twice a night, he would go about an hour before waking) And he would wake up wailing.  Just crying so hard L  I wasn’t sure if it was his breathing, or if it was his teeth, because I had also thought he was getting a top tooth in addition to being sick.  Poor guy.

This is not even newborn material for Cooper.  He has always been an awesome sleeper, so this?  This was new territory for us.

Wednesday night I was fine, yes, he woke up.  Lots.  But, he was sick and I didn’t mind rocking him all night long.

Thursday night, I was pretty tired, and not looking forward to him crying all night, so in act of desperation #1, I put him in our bed to sleep with me.  Lee slept on the couch.  Once he slept for an hour and a half.  Other than that, it was every 30 minutes.  Oy.

On Friday, I could barely keep my eyes open at work.  That night, in act of desperation #2, we gave him Benadryl to help him sleep longer.  It helped, at first.  He slept for about 4 hours in a row.  Of course, those hours were between 6 and 10pm.  When we were awake.  Why had I not learned my lesson and gone to bed earlier?  As soon as my head hit the pillow, it was on. 

By Saturday I was praying that it was the last night.  I was seriously not dealing well with the lack of sleep.  I cried a ton because I missed my happy, sweet baby.  He hadn’t been himself in about 3 weeks and I was starting to wonder if he would ever be his old self again L  I also may have screamed at Lee to leave me alone.  With a few colorful words mixed in there.  Not my finest moment. 

So, in act of desperation #3, I tried to let him cry it out in his crib for a nap (yes, this no sleeping applied to naps also).  We had been hesitant to let him cry it out, in case he still wasn’t feeling well, but as I said, these were acts of desperation.  He cried in his crib for about 40 minutes.  And then, he climbed out of that sucker and fell to the floor. Yes, he climbed out of his crib.  At 11 months.  And it was already on the lowest setting.  I’m not sure how it happened.  The mattress was propped up to help with breathing, but not that much.  I’m guessing he used a combo of that, his bumpers, and his sleep sheep.  He is nothing if not determined and strong willed, so I’m actually not surprised he made it happen.  The sad thing is, I heard him fall, but it was so loud that I thought the noise came from the garage.  It wasn’t until about 10 minutes later that I decide to give up on the nap, and I went in to get him, that I found him sitting on the floor, pushing on the door.  It scared me at first, but he was crawling all over just fine, and even laughing at the dogs.  No ER trip was made, the bumpers are now removed, and the sleep sheep is up high.  That night, no further acts of desperation were made due to that catastrophic event.

On Sunday, in act of desperation #4, we went and got his swing out of storage.  Haha.  Yep, his motorized baby swing that he was clearly too big for.  I thought that maybe sleeping more upright would help (if it was congestion keeping him from sleeping).  I can’t imagine that he remembered the swing, as he hadn’t used in well over 3 months, probably much longer than that, but his face lit up when he saw it and he wanted to get in it right away.  He loved it.  But, did it help him sleep?  Errr, that would be a no.

So, yesterday Lee and I went back and forth.  Let him cry it out, or no?  We would feel so bad if he was crying because he really was in some kind of pain (thinking it might be hard to breathe while lying down, or maybe he was getting a tooth, or even if it was because the antibiotics upset his tummy).  But, I was also wondering if he had just gotten used to being held and rocked, and that’s why he kept waking up.  Well, it turned out that, by the time we picked him up after work, he was finally back to his old self!  Happy little buddy J  I was so so happy to have his personality back! 

So, that night, we kept him up later since he was happily playing.  And when we put him to bed, we were hopeful that we would have a smooth night.  He slept until 11, and woke up, but not crying as hard as he had been.  I rocked him and put him back in his crib.  And the screaming continued.  At that point, in act of desperation #5, we decided.  Just let him cry.  And I have no idea how long he cried for.  I don’t think that long.  But I can’t tell you for sure because I was so tired myself, that I passed right out and didn’t wake up until 5 this morning.  And neither did Cooper J  I am hoping, wishing, praying that he has gotten over this and he continues sleeping well, even if we do have to let him cry it out for a few days.