Night #355

Last night was night number 355 with the little lady. She was born on November 26, 2014 at 846pm and we have not had one full nights rest since. That's right, she's about to turn one and she does not sleep through the night. In the beginning we struggled with colic. Her piercing cries in the night would almost bring me to tears. After a few weeks it was determined she was colicky due to a milk protein allergy. And so we started on the dairy free path. Nights got better with her but they were still long. No matter what we tried she would still wake every three hours and still does. We have literally tried every thing we could think of with her to get her to have restful nights. She does not have her days and nights mixed up either as she barely sleeps during the day. People have asked me does my husband not take a shift, or could I ask him to? And here is my answer....yes I could but no I don't. The reasoning is very simple, I would not want a surgeon operating on my child who has been up all night unnecessarily. Yes, there have been many, many nights when he has been up operating on someone all night but to ask him to be up all night with the little lady so I could sleep does not seem right. Especially when I think about if I were the family of a patient who needed an operation. And so it's just her and I every night, all night. However, last night, night number 355, she slept five and a half hours without a whimper!
It started out as every other night. A bottle at 7pm followed by me singing her to sleep. And at about 830 the sleepy cries started and I was sure we were headed for another long night. When she actually woke at 1050 for another bottle I was ready for bed myself. So after her bottle she went to sleep and so did I. When I woke, I couldn't figure out why. I looked at the time and it was 415. 415! I, like any mother whose child sleeps longer than normal for the first time, panicked! I quickly got up and checked to make sure she was still breathing, which she was, and then I was like Julie Andrews in The Sound Of Music!

I had just slept nearly six hours and even at the extremely early hour of 415 I felt exhilarated! My utter happiness must have been palpable as she woke up shortly after for another bottle but I couldn't have cared less. She quickly drank her bottle and went back to sleep at which time I laid there with the biggest smile on my face because it felt like a huge victory. Now tonight as we have neared bedtime again I can only hope and pray that tonight will be a similar night and that we can now bank on getting some sleep at night.