The first night Scotty and I spent with Nicky at home after he was born was an eye-opening experience. He hadn’t slept much during the days we spent at the hospital, so I thought he’d want to nap a lot. Everyone told me that all newborns do is sleep, cry, and poop. That’s what I was prepared for.
When the night came, I was very anxious for sleep. Between Christmas and giving birth all happening within a matter of days, I hadn’t slept at all. Hospital bed? Not sleepable. Especially when someone comes in every hour to take a looksee at your underwear and help you pee. Nap during the day? Not when your house if full of people coming to see the wee one.
I was absolutely miserable.
Scotty and I had a cradle in our room for Nicky. We put him in some warm pajamas and swaddled him and laid him down to sleep. Within minutes, we were in bed sound asleep.
Ten minutes later, Nicky woke up crying. He was soaked in pee which has sneaked it’s way out of the sides of his diaper. I changed him, changed his bedding, and an hour or so later, he was back asleep. Within a few more minutes he was hungry. Then a while later he awoke from spitting up. Then he was hungry again. Then he pooped.
I wouldn’t be exaggerating if I told you that Scotty and I were up twelve times that night. It’s okay though, because it was our first night alone with a baby. The next night would be better, right?
Nope! It was the same thing. Hungry. Spits up. Poops. Wants binkie. Hungry. Spits up. Cold. Hungry.
Nicky was born on a Wednesday. We came home from the hospital on Friday, and Scotty had to be back to work on Monday. I was excited for him to go back to work because I thought that once I was alone with the baby, I could nap while he napped and develop some sort of routine that would work with our new lifestyle.
Nicky didn’t sleep for more than ten minutes at a time for the whole day Monday. I thought for sure it would be better on Tuesday. Nope. Wednesday? Nope.
Our situation was really bad. Scotty and I were getting no sleep at all. Everyday when the sun went down I would bawl my eyes out because I was so afraid of what the night would be like. I was so tired and miserable. I was getting three disruptive hours of sleep in twenty-four hour periods if I was lucky, and I still hadn’t had a chance to recover from the twenty-four hours I was in labor and not sleeping. In addition to the horrible sleep habits my son had brought into our lives, he also had the tendency to scream his head off every night between the hours of 6:00-9:00. Also, feeding him a 4 oz. bottle took about forty minutes, so every time one of us got up to feed him in the middle of the night, we were committed for a ridiculous length of time.
When Nick was about two months old, we moved him to his own room. This helped a bit since we couldn’t hear him as well nor could he hear us, so everyone got a little more sleep, and Scotty and I were happy to only have to get up three times a night.
At six months, Nick started sleeping through the night once in a while. When I say ‘through the night,’ I mean ‘past three o’clock in the morning.’ When I say ‘once in a while,’ I mean ‘once every two weeks.’ At seven months, he slept through the night at least once a week. At eight months, he started sleeping until about 4:00-5:00 every morning with the occasional fluke that would keep him in bed until 7:00 or 8:00. This week Nicky will be nine months olds. He currently sleeps from about 8:30 at night until 5:30 in the morning. Scotty gets up around then, so he bring Nick to bed with me. I give Nick a bottle, which he feeds himself. Then sometimes he rolls over on his side and goes back to sleep. Other times he sits straight up the second he starts sucking air and thinks it’s time to play.
For nine months, Nicky hasn’t been much of a napper during the day. I remember holding a two week old baby and wondering how on earth he had gone an entire day with no sleep. That’s just the way he was, though. He actually naps more now than he did for the first six months of his life. He takes a morning nap for about an hour and a half and an afternoon nap (but sometimes he forgoes the afternoon nap because he’s rather throw cups on the floor).
During all this time, I’ve read books about getting your baby to sleep through the night. I’ve asked other moms for advice. I’ve tried several methods. Everything failed so Scotty and I just decided to let Nicky do his thing, and we’ll just be zombies until he’s fifteen years old and starts sleeping until noon.
It’s worth it, now that the worst of it is over, but I don’t know if I could ever do this again. People tend to believe that if I have a second child, I’ll have better luck with him sleep-wise, but I just don’t know. Nicky has been so rough. And it’s not just the sleeping. He was also a projectile vomiter. I’ve only recently been able to leave the house without ten bibs and burp cloths in the diaper bag.
I’m more grateful for my sleep now than I’ve ever been in my life. I just hope Nick will appreciate sleep someday, too.
