Still Sick, but Surviving.

Last night was long, but at least we did get some sleep. At 8, I put the baby to bed, and went to brush my teeth. I was washing my face when she started to cry, and she kept it up while I moisturized and put on my jammies. I picked her up, and climbed into the guest bed in her room. She fell asleep in my arms, and despite waking up several times during the night for snot suck-outage, nasal drain lifts, retuckings, pacifier taps, and just general "it's OK, Mommy's right here" soothings, we did get some sleep.

Rowan's fever is still up there, but at least it's only hovering between 99-102. She was still fussy and clingy today, but had stretches where she'd play by herself, allowing me to clean the bathrooms and do some loads of towels (which helped my mental state a lot.) I still feel tough, but a little less hideous than yesterday, and the state of the house was really starting to get to me. We laid down together for a nap at 2:30, and by 2:45 she was sleeping, so I decided it would be OK for me to close my eyes, too, rather than sneak out and vacuum.

We woke up at 5:10.

Oops.

Dr. B had planned to be home early, but got involved in his work and didn't make it until nearly 6, but since we had been sleeping, it was OK. He took over, feeding her yams, tofu and applesauce, strapping her to his hip when she didn't want to be set down, and playing with her while I headed to the grocery store for much needed supplies and to pick up some dinner (again ordered by him. I don't think he appreciated the burnt gravy last night--or should I say no gravy.) I made sure to pick up some stuff that I wouldn't have to think about to cook, like a frozen pizza and a frozen lasagna, just in case. When I got home, he had put her to bed.

And she's still asleep. Alone in her crib. Hallelujah.

Maybe I'll get to sleep in my bed tonight.

Blessed Sleep

You know those people whose babies sleep through the night from day one?

Yeah, I hate those people.

Rowan's been on another insomnia streak, with 15-minute naps, couchers that are creeping later and later, waking up every 30 minutes and needing to be rocked back to sleep, and of course the 3 AM feeding that reappeared around early December. She is so tired, but there's no such thing as baby Ambien (though my aunt, who's a nurse by the way, suggested rum.)

I tried feeding her more as my SIL suggested, and that worked for a day. Then, back to the no-sleep crabtastic infant. Who is now spitting up more because she's been overfed. Great.

Our doctor admonished me for not letting her cry it out. He pushed literature at me, and said, "you really need to do this. She needs to be independent." So we tried. 33 minutes later, she was completely inconsolable. She had been crying and screaming so hard she was manic. She had that wild, terrified, completely freaked out look in her eyes, and she was drenched in sweat, hiccuping and beet red. We held her and consoled her to no avail--she couldn't let it go. She kept screaming. It took 15 minutes to get her to calm down enough to nurse, and then another 45 minutes to get her back to sleep. Maybe that works with 99% of babies, but not ours.

Yesterday was another super-crabby 15-minute nap day in a string of 3 such days, but at 6 PM she literally passed out (you know she's at the end of her rope when she starts shrieking) for 40 minutes. She didn't go to bed until 8:30 or so, and it took some doing (by that I mean I literally crawled out of her room on my belly.)

But I think she must have hit the wall. She slept from 9-ish (I know she laid awake for a while) until 6:45 this morning. Then at 9:15 she went down for a morning nap. And she's still sleeping at 10:40.

My Mom would have said, "Praise the Lord and pass the band-aids!!!"

Google is now "They" and They did it again...

I logged in today to find that I had to change my login, my Mrs. B posts reposted all over Bloglines (sorry, I hate that, too), and the stupid navbar was at the top of the screen again. I tried to fix it, and somehow Google idiot-proofed it so idiots like me can't find the trick to get rid of the dumb thing.

Plus, today I took the day off to drive to Minneapolis. My sister is throwing me a baby shower, and family is coming from far and wide (seriously, some are flying in from Montana.) I feel so loved! It will be a busy weekend, visiting friends and family from both sides. Dr. B isn't coming along, as he flies out Sunday morning for a job interview. (Please think good thoughts for him!)

So, right now I don't have time to mess with my templates, and probably will be a bit lax on printing any comments. Please forgive me.

I'll be too busy chit-chatting, posing for pictures, opening presents, eating mass quantities, and finally wearing the capris and flip-flops I've been sighing over for the past month and a half. I'm at the point where most of my shoes don't fit after about 6 PM, so warmer weather is a blessing, even if it only lasts a few days. (We did have snow last week.) I'm also ready for skirts, because many of my pants aren't fitting quite the same, and skirts are just easier. I did make a home-made version of these to help keep up my under-belly pants, because it just pained me to see them hanging in my closet, unworn. Yet, when I wore them, I was yanking them up all the time, and it drove me nuts. A few mitten-clips from the fabric store, some elastic and velcro (to make them adjustable), and voilà! Saying "No!" to crack!

And the 3rd trimester exhaustion has surfaced--I now make plans and then become nauseous-tired and pass out after supper, about 3/4 of the way through the things I wanted to do. Then I wake up and go to bed. Dr. B says Zizou is sucking the life out of me. Last night was especially difficult, as she decided to take a 3 1/2 hour step aerobics class. She was moving around so much, it was physically painful for me, and left me totally drained. Drained like I thought I might puke, couldn't move enough to pack a few things into my suitcase, and felt like crying but just didn't have the energy to produce tears.

So, last night, I cheated. But it was OK cheating. My doctor said, for allergies, "take Claritin in the daytime, and Benadryl at night." I looked at her, questioning why you'd need more at night, since Claritin is 24 hour medication. She said, "you need to sleep. I'm guessing you're not sleeping very well right now."

Hmmm. I guess she's done this before. The Benadryl works like a charm. I slept like a rock.