Friday, November 6, 2009

I Made This Bed

Many moons ago I gave up on the whole sleep training thing and decided that Bug and I would nurse and co-sleep for however long the arrangement worked. For the first few months of her life, Bug slept in a bassinet next to my bed. Her first month she would sleep a four to five hour stretch and then two two or three hour stretches and then up. This little routine began to degrade over her second month and by month three her night wakings were every 20-30 minutes. Needless to say, she began sleeping in my bed and it has been that way since. When we finally got her on the right reflux meds, she started sleeping in longer stretches--two hours. Woohoo!! It has been that way since. Every now and then she'll wow us with a three and rarely even a four hour stretch. Co-sleeping works for us because it diminishes stress and lets us all get some damn sleep.

Until this week. I am apparently severely allergic to the desert. I have started having these horrible coughing attacks which seem to come on just as I am nursing Bug down to sleep. Last night it was so bad that I had to put her down in her crib and leave the room and go downstairs and cough up my lungs. She screamed and screamed until I got back to her. I laid her down in my bed and nursed her back to sleep, sucking away on cough drops and praying to god to let me get her down to sleep before another coughing fit started. As soon as she was asleep, I ran downstairs and coughed my ass off again. Then I woke us both up at about 3:30 AM coughing. This seriously sucks.

1 comment:

Existential Waitress said...

As for the co-sleeping, you know very well my position on that. I did the same thing with both kids, but with Maggie it really stuck and she's STILL in bed with me. I kind of don't see anything wrong with it though - especially since Carl's work schedule keeps him awake most of the night anyway. I hope Bug starts sleeping a little longer soon - Maggie was much the same way when it came to resisting sleep. And she DOES sleep all night now. Well, if she's with me that is. haha

Are you sure that the coughing fits aren't connected to whatever bronchial bug you're recovering from? I ask b/c whenever I am sick now, I have coughing attacks in the middle of the night much like the ones you have described. They usually last a few days and totally SUCK. I've actually slept with a cough drop in my mouth they were so bad (I know, not the best idea, but you gotta do what you gotta do to get some sleep).

If it's any consolation, I was at 4am for a couple of hours with Maggs b/c she's got a cold.