So our dear sweet Brianna is overall a wonderful baby. She rarely fusses and can be comforted pretty quickly. She is a pretty decent sleeper and overall is a very happy baby....but there are those times when she decides to throw all caution to the wind and completely change her routine on us (those days aren't good - hence mommy hell). So I've come to realize that sleep is definitely not overrated (as I used to think in my college days - wow, I sound old now...ha) and often means the difference between happy mommy and cranky mommy. So last week, Brianna had been sleeping for about 5-6 hour stretches during the night, only waking up one time at night. I can't begin to tell you how exciting this is to two sleep deprived new parents. We got into a routine, I knew on the hour when she would wake up and exactly how much formula she would have before drifting back to sleep. Then without consulting me, Brianna decided that she wanted to go back to sleeping only 3 hour stretches during the night. This means she would be waking up about two times at night and once in the morning, right after Jason left for work. So I was fine with 3-4 hour sleep stretches until I got the privilege of having 5-6 hour sleep stretches. Once you get the good sleep, you don't go back to shorter amounts of sleep too easily! Last Thursday was bad. With little sleep in me, I became a sobbing, crying mess. Feedings consisted of Bree either screaming or feeding and me crying. I would then put her down to nap and maybe got an hour nap out of her if I was lucky. She wanted to be held and fed, not sleep. Funny, how the only thing I needed was for her to sleep so that I could sleep. Even the Moby wrap didn't work. In the short time that I had alone I researched local spas for a mommy massage. Then Jason called, which was the call that broke the dam. Tears rolled down my cheeks as I sobbed "I need a break." Thankfully, Jason talked me through the rough patch, he decided that he would skip working out so that he could come home an hour earlier, and we together decided that I would schedule a hot stone massage for myself for the weekend. The highlight of my day was my 6 week post-natal doctor's appointment in which I got a few minutes to talk to some adults. It's amazing how much I now cherish adult conversation and interaction! Of course at my 6 week appointment, I had to have a small cyst popped by the doctor, so the adult conversation came with a small uncomfortable price. I hold off on the mommy heaven piece until the end of this blog (end it on a good note). Yesterday (ironically another Thursday) was a milder version of mommy hell. On Saturday night into Sunday morning, Brianna started a new routine - sleeping through the night! Now when I say through the night, I literally mean through the night. She slept anywhere between 8-12 hours with only a small cry that was quickly silenced as she fell back to sleep. At 6 weeks old, she gave me and her daddy a giant piece of mommy heaven - a solid night's sleep!! Now of course, we're in the mommy hell piece of the blog, so you can guess what that means. Yup, another change in the routine. Wednesday night was like any other night. Bree had her evening bottle and went to bed. No changes. Then without any warning, she was up screaming after I had only had 1 1/2 hours of sleep. Next, she was up screaming after a 3 hour stretch of sleep, and again up after a 3 hour stretch of sleep. Her naps yesterday were short, lasting only about 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Just barely long enough for a nap. To make matters worse, on Wednesday I completed a Jillian Michaels workout, which is insanely difficult and reeks havoc on your body. So sore and tired, Bree and I battled throughout yesterday! I have no clue what causes these routine changes, but I'm really crossing my fingers she decides to try the sleeping through the night routine again....I liked that one! ha!
Yay!! This time I'll try to Swedish massage. Wednesday of this week, my LCSW supervisor and friend came over to visit with her 11 week old son. Again, I cannot speak highly enough about adult conversation, within the first 5 minutes we were sharing horror stories and things that people never told us about raising kids. We shared all the thoughts that a new mom is embarrassed to tell others that she has, the doubts and concerns we have, and the milestones that we've seen our babies have. Beth has a little son named Will. It was so cute to see him with Brianna. Since he is about 4 weeks older than Bree, Will had the capacity to realize that there was another baby in the room, Bree not so much! While Will stared at Bree, Bree stared out the window, fascinated by the light. Beth said something about Bree being Will's first girlfriend, but unfortunately, Bree did not put her best foot forward. First, she ignored Will for the light outside the window, then she screamed at him until she was fed, and then she decided to poop all over her outfit, requiring a complete outfit change. I told her that these behaviors were not considered attractive to little boys, but I don't think she cared! Maybe she'll be more considerate during our next mommy date. Brianna has been showing some changes in her alert and play levels over the last few days. She is now taking shorter naps and is staying more alert longer. This allows for some fun play time for us. One day when I was taking pictures of her, I noticed that Bree turned her head to look in my direction regardless of which side of her body I positioned myself. So if I was to her left, she turned to look at me, when I moved center she turned to look, and same for when I moved to her right. She also seems to be right on the cusp of giving us a "social smile." She's becoming less "lumpy" (as her father would lovingly call her) and more aware of her surroundings which is fun to see!
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