Sleeping Habits

This week has been pretty tame but I wanted to fill everyone in anyway. 

Madalyn was very fussy at the beginning of this week. She would wake up screaming. It was really startling to be fast asleep and then...out of nowhere...ahhhhh!!! In between the screaming, if she wasn't sleeping, she was grunting. 'Uhhhh...uhhhh...uhhh', non stop. It nearly drove me crazy. I have no idea what was wrong with her. When I called the nurse, she said to give Madalyn some Mylicon, which is a gas medicine, but these weren't Madalyn's normal 'gas signals' so I don't know...

We stayed home on Monday and Tuesday because she wasn't feeling well, but by Wednesday I was ready to get out of the house. So, we decided to have lunch with my friend Paula and her daughter Lexi (who just turned 1 on Sunday). Well, the morning was filled with fussing and grunting and, as a result, we left the house later than I wanted to. Lunch was ready when we got to Paula's house and Madalyn slept while I ate. Now, I must confess a recent addiction of mine...large cokes from Sonic. Oh, they sure do know how to hit the spot! Since Madalyn was dosing and I was thirsty, I tried to sneak out to get a coke. 

As if the grunting, screaming and cabin fever weren't enough, my car wouldn't start...great! I guess the coke wasn't meant to be. Of course I had parked behind Paula's car and we couldn't get it out of the garage to jump mine. So we're backing up her car and turning the wheel every which way trying to maneuver the car out and the whole time we're running in and out of the house tending to our screaming daughters. Chaotic sums it up. Long story short, we get my car started so I load Madalyn up and we head off to Auto Zone. About the time the young man at Auto Zone tells me that I need a new battery, I realized that I had left my wallet at home...and Madalyn is crying. I guess what I'm trying to say is that Wednesday was frustrating. It all ended well though, we went to Target and Madalyn hung out in her sling (this great thing I got at a shower, it wraps around me and Madalyn so I can hold her close to me without using my hands) while we walked around. I love that sling thing...it has saved many a shopping experience. 

The rest of the week has been better. Madalyn's mood has greatly improved. The big news from the week comes from last night and this morning. 

Currently, Mady sleeps in a bassinet next to the bed. Its tall enough that I can't see into it when I'm laying in bed. So, at night, I can hear Mady when she gets upset. Here's how that goes: I hear her grunt...and I wait to see if she gets more grunty. If she makes more noise, I look at the bassinet...not in it, but AT it. She has this teddy bear mobile attached to the bassinet. When Mady is really getting upset the bears shake because she's kicking. So, if I see the bears dancing and shaking, I know she's getting mad. We heard that when babies kick their legs, they are telling you that they feel out of control. Mady does this often. When she sleeps, we have to wrap her in a swaddle blanket to keep her feeling in control, but her legs are so long and strong that she is constantly kicking out of her blanket. So, if I hear grunting and I see bears dancing, I can look into the bassinet and, usually, she has kicked out of her blanket. She's laying there, legs and arms getting cold in the night air (she gets too hot with a night gown and the blanket). If this happens, I have to wrap her back up and try to hold her legs down (so she feels in control) and give her a pacifier at the same time. This may sound easy, but it is surprisingly difficult and often frustrating (remember, this is usually in the middle of the night...Jennifer doesn't like being sleep deprived). 

So, last night, MADALYN (almost) SLEPT THROUGH THE NIGHT! I don't know if everyone is as excited as I am but here's the story! I fed Mady last night around 12:30am and she woke up at 2:00am. Well, I'm trying to feed her every three hours so instead of feeding her, I just got her back to sleep. She didn't wake up again until 5:30am! I fed her and she fell asleep for a little bit but woke up as Michael was getting ready for work (around 6:30am). She usually wakes up when he's getting ready which is fun because she is always in a great mood. Michael would get to work earlier if Madalyn wouldn't spend the whole morning smiling, laughing and talking to him. She is a morning person I guess...or just a daddy's girl. After he left, she went back to sleep until 10am. 

I guess that doesn't REALLY count as sleeping through the night, but its still pretty nice that I only fed her every five hours. I see it as improvement from the 'every-two-hour' schedule we were on two months ago. 

Thats all I've got this time. Tonight I'm going out with some friends and Michael is watching Madalyn by himself...I'm sure there will be a good story to write tomorrow!