Nightmare Morning

Every once in a while, you have a perfect storm in your life. It's not always rain and wind. This morning, it was a crying child.

Just as we began to count on her to sleep through the night, Sneak discovered the wonders of fighting sleep. I don't mind the occasional sleepless night. I really don't. However, if said sleepless night takes place on the first night of real sleep following a bout of insomnia for me and stress induced sleeplessness for Hubby, it's the makings of a disaster. For different reasons, Hubby and I have had little sleep and what we did manage was fitful for three days in my case and about a week in Hubby's.

Last night started so well. The girls went to bed on time. We went to bed on time, and we actually managed to sleep, long and soundly. Then 1:15 a.m. rolled around. Sneak woke with a soaked diaper. It happens. No big deal.

I change her and put her back to bed. I lay back down, and at 1:30, she's crying again. I think perhaps she's thirsty, so I get her something to drink. 1:55, same deal without any apparent cause. I start getting grumpy. She's just fighting sleep. I know it. She wants me to put her on the floor in the middle of her toys and turn the light on for her to play. No.

2:10, she's still crying. 2:30, still crying. I try offering her something to drink again. I even hold her for a few minutes until she calms down. Things are quiet. I try to head back to bed. 2:45, she starts up again. Hubby, whose been up since the start of this mess but trying to ignore it since he's the one who has to put in "face time," decides to give it a try. Things get worse. I kick him back to bed and finally manage to calm her back down in the rocking chair. She collapses in complete exhaustion once she stops crying. I manage to get back to bed around 3:13 a.m., but I can't drift off until somewhere between 3:30 and 4.

The alarm goes off at 5:30 a.m. It takes four tries for me to silence the stupid thing. Hubby gets up, and I try to catch another half hour of sleep. Sneak wakes up screaming again at 5:40. I scream silently as I give up. I run into a wall in the sleep deprived haze and a sudden headache drops me to my knees. I hate these tension headaches.

We try feeding her, changing her, giving her a sippy of milk, letting her play, and nothing works. She continues to cry. Every time I go from sitting to standing, the headache returns. Most times I just grimace. Once it drives me to my knees again, just after Sneak's crying wakes Boo. Thankfully Boo is old enough to follow the, sleep or play quietly in your room until Daddy leaves for work rule, and she went back to bed once she saw her sister wasn't hurt.

Things have quietened down now, but the damage is done. Hubby and I are sleep deprived past the point where coffee does more than takes the edge off. Hubby forgot his antiseizure meds and his lunch, and I'm somewhat cognizent but feel like I've been hit by a train otherwise.

I pray the residual from Hubby's medicine last night holds until I can get more to him this morning. I'm not about to drive through rush hour traffic with two cranky girls while barely able to keep my eyes open.

* The picture is of a very sleepy Sneak back in January. Ah, for the days when the swing worked.