Lesson Learned

You know, I'm starting to think that the whole 'motherly instincts' thing is over rated.

Claire is in the middle of her first cold. I think I'm rather lucky, actually, because she's basically six months and I'm just dealing with this now. Although she did end up in the ER at 2 months due to a high fever, but I still think that was a fluke. Anyway, the night before last I awoke to the sounds of Claire crying at 1:45am. I go into her room to find her WIDE awake and after a series of 'tries', I get her to fall back asleep around 3 am. She wakes up again just after 6, where I promptly just bring her to bed with me. (I know, its highly suggested that you don't have a 'family bed' but I really enjoy my sleep and since I don't have a nanny that will allow me to sleep in all morning, I figure this is the next best thing) It works for a bit, but then we have to start our day. I'm tired, but figure I'll get to lay down at some point. Well, to make a long story short, I never got a nap, Claire was fussy ALL DAY LONG, and I've never been so thankful to see Bob walk through the door as now I'm calling the 'first alternate' up to duty.

As night approaches, I figure I'm going to be REALLY prepared this time. Okay, so I thought about being 'prepared' after Claire got up at 11pm with absolutely NO signs of wanting to go back to sleep. I decide to sleep in the spare room with her. Might as well just start us together since I know that's how we'll end up in the morning. I get the bed all ready with pillows to surround her; I have a 'bottle making station' set up next to me in case it actually gets to that point (which I'm more than willing to do if it means a few more minutes of sleep for me in the end) and of course her nose squeezy thing and burp cloths. As Bob sets up the humidifier I'm actually kind of smiling to myself at being so organzied in dealing with this cold. So we all say good night, turn off the lights, and settle in.

And then all heck breaks loose.

Claire is scratching my eyes and face and starts this crying/screaming thing. I try singing to her, but realize its hard to sing quietly while laying on your side, so I switch to a half whistle that I think really annoyed her. So then I try sitting up and rocking her, patting her bum, ANYTHING I can think of. Totally not working. After I don't know how long, I take her into our room and tell Bob I need his help. (poor guy, he has to get up early in the morning, but I figure a few minutes of awake time now, is better than lots of minutes of her crying) As Bob holds her in our dark room, I run downstairs and make up the couch so that I can hold her through the night as she sleeps. Yes, I actually thought that I could just cradle her in my arms and let her sleep. I think, 'she can't breath through her nose, so she wants to be elevated'. I grab the 'bottle making station', the nose thingy, burp cloths and all, and have it all set up next to me on the couch. Bob brings her down and thats where we notice that Claire is SUPER happy. Weirdly happy. She's wired and we have NO idea why. So we just look at her. I'm actually debating putting on the TV at this point. After a bit Bob goes back upstairs while Claire is just sitting next to me on the couch. We turn on a light so its not too dark, and I try and start to settle Claire down for the night.

Again. No good.

She's crying, arching her back, rubbing her snotty nose all over my shoulder. Its miserable. For both of us. Annoyed that yet another one of my clever ideas didn't work, I take her upstairs and put her in her crib. To which she promptly rolls over, grabs her blanket, and goes to sleep.

Hmm. All she wanted was to be in her bed.

She wakes up one more time right before Bob's alarm goes off, but she goes back to sleep pretty quickly. So fortunately I get a bit more sleep. Now a new day is here, and I'm hoping that this cold is on its way out the door. Because really, I don't want to have another night like the last, and I'm sure you all don't want to hear it again!