Sunday, March 22, 2009

Long Nights Make for Even Longer Days

Last Wednesday was a big day...or shall I say, a big night in our household. Grace officially moved out of her cradle and into the crib in her room. A very momentous occasion as we hope that 1) this will prevent her from smothering herself in the bumper of her cradle (very important) and 2) it may promote sleeping through the night.

This move was meant to occur earlier last week but a weekend trip to Seattle and being stuck on the pass delayed the setup of the baby monitors until...well, Wednesday night. I kept hoping Court would figure everything out so that I wouldn't have to. The monitors are a bit complicated to set up because they have a built-in sensor to detect the baby's breathing. If the monitor doesn't identify movement every 20 seconds, a siren equivalent to a miniature fog horn goes off. (Her crib is literally 20 feet from our bed, but I'm not paranoid.) I think Court was unconsciously sabotaging the cradle-to-crib transition as he was not ready for his little girl to move out quite so soon. (Don't even mention the "c" word to him - college!!)

I finally got it working and put G Baby down for the night. I thought the anxiety Court and I felt would keep us up all night. Was she lonely? Was she scared? Would we hear her when she cried? Did she feel abandoned? However, we were both sound asleep within minutes of hitting the pillow!

Anyway, here is Grace in her cradle at 5 days old. She fit inside perfectly.


Here is Grace's final morning in her cradle at 3 months of age...



Grace did great...the first night. She woke up once to eat and then slept until 6 am the next morning. I peaked in on her before she woke up to document the milestone. She must have missed being cooped up in her cradle because she somehow turned herself around so that she was sleeping sideways in her crib.


It was a good thing I went in and checked on her when I did because not 30 seconds after taking this video, the your-baby-is-not-moving-or-breathing-foghorn-alarm went off.




Grace had squirmed herself so far into the corner of her crib she was no longer on the sensor. I was standing right there, fully aware that she was alive and breathing but the alarm still scared the hell out of me. It would NOT have been a good way to wake up but Grace didn't seem to mind.


Since the first night went so well, I was sure that the nights following would be a snap! I was confident we'd have this kid sleeping through the night by Saturday. Overly-confident. Grace has since made it clear that she has other ideas.

Let's just say the last few long nights have made for a very tired, very cranky Mommy. I now understand why "Mommy time" is what everyone always wants for Mother's Day. A night of uninterrupted sleep is now on par with, or perhaps even more coveted, than jewelry, fancy shoes or a fabulous handbag! And for me to say that, you KNOW I must be sleep deprived!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

It will happen! Just have faith and follow your instincts!