Ok Sleep-sharing mamas, get creative with me

[DoulaLMT]

Help me try to come up with a compromise that will work for what both DH and I want. I intend to sleep with my baby. I'm a light sleeper and need my space, so I am thinking along the lines of a side-car crib or co-sleeper. Here's the snag - we have a log bed. http://img215.imageshack.us/img215/9794/img2714hr3.jpg
As you can see from the picture, it has big log rails on the side. This bed was hand made for us by my father-in-law and it means a lot to both of us, esp. DH. I've suggested moving it to the guest room (while the kids are little) and putting our mattresses on the floor or on a regular frame, but he REALLY wants to keep it in our room. Does anyone know of any type of contraption that would work with this? The next best thing I can think of is having a bassinet by my side of the bed, but I'd still have to get up, and it's not really co-sleeping. Anyone have any brilliant ideas? Sorry this post is so long!

[happymomma]

Hmm, from the pic its kind of hard to tell how much that log on the side sticks out...how many inches are we talking about? Just the space from the very end of the mattress to the side of the log. If its a small amount you may be able to get away with a side car crib that you can strap to your bed and put a bumper on the other side of the crib mattress up against the back crib rails if there is even a large enough gap....did that make sense?

[DoulaLMT]

I know...I don't really have a picture of the side of the bed. With the mattress in the middle, there's about 6 inches of space between the mattress and the side of the rail. The rail itself is about 4 inches across, so if we pushed the mattress all the way over to my side, that would narrow the gap some and leave a gap on Dh's side of the bed.

I don't really know much about how to sidecar a crib. Do you think that might actually work?

[KittyTheCat]

We've been co-sleeping with a crib since DS was born. I never took to the co-sleepers because you really can't use them all that long.
What you need to get is a convertible crib that can be turned into a toddler bed. Then you leave the side rails in on one side. Like this:
Click me (snagged from here)
Then, tie the side of the crib to the log in two or three places.
For the space in between the beds, you need to get a custom-cut piece of high density foam, like a foam mattress. Put it in, cover with blankets or whatever suits you best, et voìla - you have a co-sleepable bed.