Friday, February 22, 2008

Sleepless

When people ask me why we call our boy "the rooster," I usually give the easy answer: he wakes us up at all hours. They laugh at this, but we don't, as we are too tired. The truth is, in fact, that the name probably evolved in some fatigue-induced haze during which we babbled a string of silly nicknames including Boonie, Roo, Roostie, Roostieroo, and, of course, Rooster. Don't quote me on any of this, as I cannot be held responsible for memory or accuracy - I have not slept in four years.

Again, people laugh when I say I have not slept in four years. These people are off my Christmas/Hanukah list. These people use alarm clocks. Ha! What do these people know.

I'm especially weary of hearing predictions about when we will sleep. These began while I was still pregnant and couldn't get comfortable at night. People warned, "That's mother nature's way of training you, because you aren't going to get a good night's sleep for MONTHS." Then, in the hospital, the rooster kept all the other babies awake, so the nurses asked us to keep him in room, saying we might as well start getting used to it, as it was "only the start." My doctor said three months would be the magic mark. A coworker said a year. Everyone suggested the Ferber method, and we tried, we tried, but alas only we parents cried ourselves to sleep. As all predicted dates for rest came and went, our pediatrician all but promised that the rooster would be sleeping through the night by the time he turned two. And that was a time when he began to sleep through SOME nights. Of course, that is also the year his sister, Peaches, was born.

Soon the rooster will be four and Peaches will turn two. We did discover Melatonin a few weeks ago, no thanks to our pediatrician, so the rooster does GO to sleep now, and that is huge. But what does he expect me to say when he leaps into our room at 3 a.m. and says, "MOMMY?! What are you DOING?" It isn't every night he does this, but, for one reason or another, my sleep gets interrupted about 5 nights a week. Somehow he and Peaches must collude each night. Sometime between dinner and tooth brush time, they must make some plan; with their eyes they must telegraph, "You get mom and dad tonight. Try the coughing thing. That one is good. Tomorrow night I plan to wet the bed, unless you want to lose your pacifier?"

Are my blogs awful? Depressing? The worst? I cannot tell anymore. I'm too tired to read them.

4 comments:

Club 166 said...

Hi!

Just wandered over from Niksmom's blog, and have been reading some of your postings.

You have a natural flair for this, despite the lack of sleep.

Not that you need one more person recommending something to you, but have you tried Melatonin for the sleep thing? It's one of the least harmful substances out there, and sometimes works. Run it by your pediatrician if you haven't tried it yet.

Joe

tulipmom said...

Your posts are definitely not boring or depressing. I feel like I can relate to everything you're saying. Sleep has been so hard to come by in our house for the past 7years. When people ask me how I'm going to handle having a newborn, I tell them I can count on one hand the number of nights I've slept through the night in the past 7 years. I can totally relate to that dreaded 3 am wake up call and then being up the rest of the night. It's a killer!

Joeymom said...

I think lack of sleep makes for better writers. Desperation or something. Joey is five and still comes in, but at least he crawls into bed, kicks me to the recliner, and falls asleep. I may have an aching back, but I got to shut my brain down for a bit.

My OT gave me a sheet about sleep problems and ways to help a child go to sleep and stay asleep. I'll see if I can track it down. We all suffer from executive dysfunction around here.

kristi said...

Ummmmm.......do we have the same life?? I haven't slept for 6 years...it's not getting any easier!