Operation Sleep

So, the past couple of weeks we have seen a major sleep regression. Jack teased us with several weeks of at least a 4 hour- and oftentimes a 5 or even 6 hour- initial stretch at night. And then a couple of weeks ago I think Jack began to realize that we weren't there when he happened to stir at night. And who wants to be alone at night when you could be hanging out with mommy and daddy? Not our baby.

So, we've been up at night- a lot. Every three hours to feed the boy and often several times in between to soothe him back to sleep. Hourly wake-ups aren't good for anyone. So, we decided that it might be time to help the little man remember how to self-soothe.

Tuesday night was the big night. After the bedtime routine and feeding, I laid Jack down in the crib and braced for the torture of listening to my baby cry. Well, actually, I braced to listen to him cry for about 15 minutes while I got ready to go out to dinner with my girlfriends and left Rob to listen to our baby cry. Great mom, right? Well, at least he has an awesome dad.

Anyway, it turns out I did hear all the crying, all 13 or 14 minutes of it. And then that baby slept for 8 hours. EIGHT hours, people... I feel like shouting it from the rooftop! Of course, Rob and I were laying in bed wide awake for at least the last hour of that stretch nervously debating whether or not we should venture in to check on him (we didn't). But I got to have a lovely dinner with my girlfriends and sleep for three uninterrupted hours. What a treat :)

The past two nights haven't given us a stretch anywhere near that miracle that we were blessed with on Tuesday, but it has still been an improvement. Thank goodness. We are all feeling a bit more rested around here now.

For the record, I hate hearing my baby cry. The second night he cried for about 15 minutes again. You would think I could calmly take it, since I knew what sort of sleep was possible from the night before. I thought I was going to crawl up the walls though. I did seriously consider going for a run around the block... which if you know me, you know would be a really, really drastic measure.

Molly-dog has decided to reinforce my mommy guilt by reminding me of what a cruel mama I am. Wednesday night after about 60 seconds of crying, Molly also began crying outside the nursery and then pushed the door open and stood watch beside the crib. I had to pick her up and carry her out of the room, and then she sulked over to her mat where she sat looking incriminatingly at us throughout dinner. Of course she soon realized that this meant that she had us to herself for the rest of the evening, and all was quickly forgiven.

*** Thanks so much for all of the prayers, thoughts, and encouragement after my last post. So far, work and Jack's childcare have gone really well. I really have so much to be thankful for ("for which to be thankful"... I know). ***