Can I has nap now please?

[Phoenix~Mama]

This is really just a sort of vent kind of thread...

But I am EXHAUSTED!! My DD was waking up screaming almost every single night two weeks ago right around 3 am. I get up for work between 4:30 am and 5 am.

It stopped last week and I was thinking we were over whatever hump she was going through... Except last night she woke up at 3 am again... not screaming like crazy, thankfully, but crying. I thought she was going to go back down easy as she was pretty much dead weight in my arms but as soon as I went to lay her down, she freaked out.

Okay, let's try to cuddle in bed. (co-sleeping usually doesn't work for her and I, you will see why as I continue because this happens EVERY TIME - UGH! )

Yeah, so at first she is laying all nice and snuggley next to me, then she wants to play and starts hitting me, scratching me and pinching me, pulling my hair, crawling all over me like a jungle gym. I tell her it's still night night time and we need to lay down and go sleepeys. She may lay for a second, but gets bored again and the cycle repeats. Which is very uncomfortable, as when I don't get enough sleep and I wake my body is in severe pins and needles burning pain (yay for fibromyalgia), not to mention she wants to keep banging her head off my sore expanding tummy.

So I get back up with her... back to pacing and rocking and smoothing her hair, she settles down, and I go to lay back down with her, and up, it's play time/torment Mommy again!

Usually when she wakes at 3:00 am, and she doesn't go back down easy, I can usually get her back to sleep in about an hour's time... this morning this did not happen and by time I know it my alarm is going off and I have to get ready for work. :cry

I'm in pins and needles burney pain, my eyes are BURNING!! I stopped to get coffee this morning (and so now I feel guilty all over again because I feel like I have been drinking too much caffeine with this pregnancy! Because of these wonderful early morning adventures with DD)...

I'm just wrecked... I'm contemplating taking a half day, I have partial FMLA coverage right now... but it would be un-paid, and I already have a vacation day scheduled for Friday, so I'm doing my best to just troop along... but it HURTS! :cry

/poor me

Sorry... it's a really rough morning. I keep thinking the night wakings are due to transitions with DD and I'm praying they end soon. She started her new daycare yesterday and her nap schedule has to change. She was really tired last night with such a busy day, so I'm actually really surprised she woke up and was awake so long.

Cause yeah, the kicker was when I handed her off to my Dad this morning so I could get ready for work, she freaked out for a little bit, but then she settled down next to him and went to sleep!!! *sighs*

She will co-sleep with everyone but me... for some reason when she lays down with me it translates to Mommy jungle gym time.

My Dad actually complimented me this morning and told me he has no idea how I do it all and he knows I have to be running on E. (I don't ask for help in the middle of the night, because I feel bad about it and like I'd be an inadequate Mother that can't handle parenting my own child, plus my Dad has longer/harder days than me... he's been roofing all this week in 90+ degree weather ick!)

[meemee]

oh mama i hear you.

your dd is at an age when this happens. so it is age appropriate.

with my dd with whom i cosleep it was curiousity. she would talk my head off. we would be up for an hour or two and she would be asking me all these mostly tough questions.

she had to be up. she had to have her curiosity met or she would not be able to sleep. it was easier for me to be up with her rather than force her to sleep (extremely stressful for me).

i am so sorry because i remember that tiredness. having to go to get up when my whole being wants the bed. and that fibro pain just takes it to another place in hell. PLUS on your 2nd trimester.

i hope mama you are doing a little better now. since you wrote this.

and here's to a restful, peaceful night tonight.

[simplemama32]

I hope you both have a better night tonight! We're dealing with no naps here for the past couple days, which results in an early night, but a very restless night with multiple wakings. After the 2:00 am wake-up last night, I couldn't go back to sleep (though DS thankfully did!) until after 6:00...then up for the day at 6:30. *yawn*

However, 6:30 is LOTS better than 4:30-5:00 am. Hugs to you, mama!

[*MamaJen*]

Man, for DS and I, 18 months was definitely the peak of "challenging." Maximum mobility, minimum logic. Things got a lot easier for me as he got closer to 2.
That's so hard, though, I know lack of sleep and stress are big triggers for fibro.
At the risk of sounding like a bucket of cliches, be gentle with yourself.

[Ruthla]

I had a very hard time parenting a toddler while pg- and I was a SAHM at the time so I could nap when DD1 napped! If you have anybody who can watch her during the day so you can nap while she plays, I'd take advantage of that.

[~Charlie's~Angel~]

Just saw this. Hope last night was better.

[pinksprklybarefoot]

What is your room like? Could you childproof it really well, put some toys in it for her, and let her play while you doze with one eye open? I do that some mornings - we have a similar issue, although not quite as early.

Alternatively, could you play with bedtime? Either put her to bed an hour or so later in hopes that she will sleep longer, or put yourself to bed an hour or so earlier and become a *really* early morning person? You are up already, might as well get things done (things you might normally do at night like pack lunches, etc) while she plays.

[Phoenix~Mama]

Originally Posted by pinksprklybarefoot

What is your room like? Could you childproof it really well, put some toys in it for her, and let her play while you doze with one eye open? I do that some mornings - we have a similar issue, although not quite as early.

Alternatively, could you play with bedtime? Either put her to bed an hour or so later in hopes that she will sleep longer, or put yourself to bed an hour or so earlier and become a *really* early morning person? You are up already, might as well get things done (things you might normally do at night like pack lunches, etc) while she plays.

It is pretty well child proofed, and she does have some toys, but she wants to play with Mama and not on the floor. lol

As for bedtime... she is already not going to bed until around 8-8:30 pm. By time I get back downstairs and get our things ready for the next day I'm usually not getting to be until about 9:30-10, which is only giving me, 6-7 hours of sleep, which is typically broken up from having to pee, not being comfortable, etc. So even on "normal" nights I'm really not getting that much sleep as is, so pushing back her bed time even later is so not going to work for me.

And I can't go right to sleep when she goes to sleep because she refuses to fall asleep while I'm in the room. She wants it to be play time. When I leave the room she will lay down and get comfy and go to sleep, and I usually have to give it at least a half hour before I can go back up.

Some of this will change once my Dad gets around to remodeling the other room so we can have our own rooms, but I don't forsee that getting done until at least September, if I'm really lucky.

Today was better and she woke up at 4:20. I had to get up at 5 today for work, so I just played with her in bed.