Woe is Me!

For those of you who are regular readers of this here blog, you may have been wondering where I've been. I won't lie and say I haven't had time to blog because there have been many opportunities. Nor can I say I haven't had anything to blog about... nothing can be further from the truth. It's just that I was beginning to be a bit of a complain pot which is totally not the spirit in which I started this blog. There's also been so much going on with the kids that I found myself craving moments of doing-nothingness where every chance I go, however few I would just sit and watch t.v.

But you know what? I realise that I have every right to be a complain pot in this space, because it is after all my space. So what's been going on you ask? Last week Bilaal had a tummy bug again. Fortunately it was only coming out the top end, changing bedding and pjs 3 times during the night is no fun, especially if in between you have an insomniac of a baby screaming her lungs out every hour. Then Wednesday Bilaal was back at school and what do you know... Sumayah starts. Now at first I thought she caught the bug from him, but then it became clear that this was no bug, She wasn't vomitting consistently during the , no fever and she was actually quite constipated. So all she ate for 2 days was banana, jam sandwiches and juice. Finally she seemed to improve, then Friday night Bilaal vomitted, followed by Sumayah the next morning. So Saturday we traipsed off to the doctor. The verdict? Both of them are fine! She gave me scripts for antibiotics for both of them in the event they didn't improve the next day. Bilaal didn't need his, but even though Sumayah only vomitted her milk once the next day, the monday I went to get her the antibiotics. I have become an expert at mopping up grotesquely large amounts of projectile vomit!

Now let's not neglect the whole sleeping saga. I am pleased to report that Sumayah is no longer so much an insomniac as she is a restless sleeper. Now when she wakes every hour I can at least get her to sleep again as soon as I pop the dummy in. I have realised though that it is not actually the dummy that soothes her, but rather me giving her the dummy that does the trick, because even though she sleeps, the minute my head hits the pillow she cries again. So to avoid the cold of winter biting at my toes in the middle of the night I have resorted to bringing her to the bed. This of course is not really a solution, because it's not as if she sleeps through the night when she's in the bed. She still cries every hour or so, but at least she's right next to me so I can simply pat her back to sleep. The good news is the whole vomitting saga seems to be under control now!
But still... woe is me!

Wordless Wednesday 21 - 8th photo tag challenge

2 July 2009

Olivedale Hospital Maternity Ward

Sumayah's Birthday

Karen at mailto:momagain40@blogspot.com tagged me is this awesome photo challenge. The rules are:

- Go to your photo files, select the 8th photo folder.

- Select the 8th photo in that folder.
- Post that photo along with the story behind it.
- Then challenge 8 blogging friends to do the same:

Jou ma se blerrie blog
The Kriel Family
life before and after having a baby
Back at the coal face
laughs to birth and all things that follow
im so not a blogger
Cancer Journals
wtjalexander

Sleep Saga Chronicles continued

Things seem to be improving a weeee bit. On Sunday we had a lovely picnic at the park for a friend's birthday. The last good sleep Sumayah had was 10am the morning for about an hour (pleasant surprise!) and after that she had about a 15 minute nap at about 2.30pm and no matter how hard I tried she simply would not have her late afternoon nap. So one would think with the lack of sleep and all the fun excitement of the beautiful outdoors that she would have no problem sleeping when night fell... well you thought wrong. We didn't have the grace period of the witching hour. Madam decided to wake from 9pm onward for every hour and then from 10.30pm itt was just impossible to even get her to fall into a light sleep. I would be walking up and down in the dark with her for an hour and she would be staring up at me with big bright eyes. Not even drowsy or droopy! Now I know the Baby Sense will tell you that an overtired, overstimulated child becomes hyperactive and unable to settle into a restful sleep... but come on... 4 hours later surely she should at least be showing signs of sleepiness after being rocked and bobbed and patted and swayed?! Only at about 3.30am did she decide that she was now tired and just dozed off... in the bed of course.

So yesterday I bought some rescue remedy thinking that maybe she just has a very restless mind and needs something to calm her at night. That is something other that the whole Baby Sense precribed 'setting the stage for sleep' routine I have been following to no avail. So last night still presented some sleep problems but not as bad. She woke a few times before midnight again, but was definately sleepy enough to pat her to sleep in her cot. Finally she had a good stretch of sleep from 10pm till the midnight witching hour. I picked her up and patted her to sleep on my chest in our bed, but then put her back in the cot and what do you know she actually slept through till 5.45am! Now I don't know if it was the rescue remedy that did the trick or something else I may have done differently last night, but I sure am going to use the homeopathy again tonight! 

More sleepless nights!

I tried walking with her, sitting, rocking, I tried patting and swinging, I tried singing, humming, shoosing and silence, I tried lying in the bed with her on my chest, and I tried putting her between us in the bed, I tried patting her in the cot, I tried leaving her in the cot... I tried every trick I could think of, but 1 hour turned into 2 hours, turned into 3 hours and still no sleep!

Okay so this happened on Wednesday night and then again last night. I think what is aggravating an already restless sleep situation is that the top tooth is on the verge of breaking through the gum and this is causing cramps with runny tummy. So I found myself on Wednesday night so frustrated and at my wits end that I said to Sumayah, "Right, if you are not interested in sleeping then let's stay up!" and I stormed downstairs with her at about 11.30pm with the intention of going online and venting through my blog. To my shock and horror I discovered that Yaasier and I had completely forgotten about the dishes. Ordinarily if it was only a few things I would've just given an 'oh well' shrug and left it for the next morning, but this was a mountain of cooking and dinner dishes and I just have this obsession with not leaving the kitchen in such a state over night. So there I was at 11.30 at night washing dishes, while Sumayah happily sat in her feeding chair and watched me. Yep the little bugger didn't make a squeak, she was totally satisfied with our little midnight 'party'. Then just as I was wrapping up thinking that she should be lekker sleepy now... she vomited! Not alot, but just enough chunks of her supper to have to remove the whole feeding chair cover carry her with the cover and the rag doll she vomitted on carefully upstairs to sort out in the bath. Now there was no room for feelings of anger and frustration at this point because I was feeling so sorry for my poor little girl who had to be stripped down in the cold of the night and rinsed off and changed into clean pjs! She was crying so bitterly and I worked as quickly as possible to get her warm and cosy again. Once she was warm and settled I had to give the items in the bath a rinse before finally going back to bed. At least the whole ordeal tired her out enough to fall asleep... in our bed of course!

Well, the same sleep battles occurred last night, but this time I didn't get to go downstairs for a midnight 'party'... no, at about 12.30 I realised Sumayah was making a no.2 and knowing that she has the squirts, I lifted her up, and thank god I did that, because she made such a monstrosity that it was spilling out the side of her nappy all down her pj pants and fortunately my fast action mommy manoevre prevented it from dirtying the bedding (although one chunk did make its way onto the carpet!). So back we were in the bathroom playing out our little midnight wash scenario and the added  excitement of cleaning the little mess on the carpet too.

At 2am we finally got some shuteye.. in the bed of course! Let's see what drama tonight holds shall we?!

Wordless Wednesday 20

The Witching hour returns!

This is going to be a very watered down version of the post I was actually writing in my head at 2am this morning. But after a hot cup of tea and lovely french toast I have calmed down somewhat and am therefore typing with less anger and frustration. So what is the object of my frustrations.... Sleep of course... or rather lack of it! After the success of my sleep training at the start of the year, I was pretty impressed with myself for 'dealing' with the hot topic on every mother's lips... getting baby to sleep through the night. Of course I knew that teething would cause some unsettled nights, but I didn't expect it to toatally undo all the sleep training I put us through! For the past 3 months itt has been getting progressively worse. From waking every 3 hours only needing the dummy  to sleep again, to waking every hour from midnight onward - hence the tittle of this post. Like clockwork, on midnight the restless sleep kicks in. Most nights its simply: she cries, I put the dummy in her mouth, I get back into bed, repeat. Most nights it's pretty automatic, literally following the process in my sleep. But every few nights I have one like last night.

Where she just  can't fall back to sleep, not wide awake, clearly wanting to sleep, but just not able to cross that bridge over into deep sleep. Worst still she doesn't want me to pick her up, she is very happy with me leaning over the side of the cot with my hand on her back. Her eyes would be closed, she seems to be sleeping I've been standing like this for 15 minutes already so I think maybe I can creep back into bed... oh no! The minute I  move my hand from her back she opens her eyes to peer at me throught the darkness. The minute I put my hand back she closes her eyes again. When it gets to 2am, I'm cold, my back is sore, I'm getting pins and needles in my arm from hanging over the cot, I'm tired and when I remove my hand from her back and she looks at me and claps her hands... yes claps! that is truly the last straw I tell you. This is when I use all a manner of obscenities under my breath, feel like shouting at Sumayah, feel  like crying with tiredness and frustration, feel like putting earplugs in and dumping her in the cot to cry it out....

Deep breaths...5,4,3,2,1... lift her gently from her cot and bring her to the bed at the risk that she will now be wide awake and want to play (it's happened before!). Surprisingly she lies quietly between Yaasier and I tossing and turning a little bit until hey presto! she is asleep. Still only lightly, so still needing the occasional pat on the back, but at least I am snug as a bug under the covers so I finally get a little shuteye!

Wordless Wednesday 19