Nora McCrankypants

[sal_amanda]

Nora's latest thing is to only sleep when put down for a very limited amount of time.  Then she'll wake up all cranky and need to be picked up and soothed before we can put her back down, but then she'll do it all over again in, like, a half hour.  This included over night as well so you can imagine the havoc this is wreaking on our own sleep cycles.  I currently have her nestled on me in her baby wrap so she's doing fine and I was able to grab some lunch, but I'm dying for a nap.  Oh, and for some reason I've had a hard time falling asleep on the rare occasions I get to do so.  Sucks to be me.

I'm looking forward to her figuring out her hands a little more.  Sometimes she finds them on accident when she's upset and will have a moment of self-soothing sucking before they mysteriously disappear on her.  I think they'll come in handy when she can identify them and put them where she wants them.  Meanwhile, we like to keep them swaddled because they occasionally upset her still.  For example, this morning while John was changing her diaper, she somehow managed to grab onto a wad of her own hair and yanked.  Upset at being hurt, she of course tightened her grip, which then caused her more pain.  John had to hold her hand to keep her from pulling while I pried her fingers open.  He found this hilarious.  I was totally traumatized.  

Comments

[busybusymama.livejournal.com]

Oh, so sad about her pulling her own hair. :(

Don't you think that insomnia/trouble sleeping for new moms is like some sort of cruel joke?

I totally feel for your lack of sleep. Grace ate about every 45 minutes as a newborn. It was so overwhelming, and stressful, that I just didn't even bother to try to sleep a lot of the time. It was actually easier for me to handle staying up than it was for me to constantly fall asleep and wake up. Of course, neither is healthy. And thankfully, eventually she started spacing those feedings out. But, it seemed like forever. Even now, it's really what I remember, thought it was probably only a few weeks.

How much longer will John be home? It DOES get easier. At least in terms of dealing with newborn stuff. :)

Hope you get some rest.

[sal_amanda]

Oh my God. She ate every 45 minutes? I would die, I swear. I thought every couple of hours was a pain and now I have a new perspective on that one.

John goes back to work on Monday. As does my mom after her Easter break. And my sister just left for her home today. So as of Monday, I'm officially on my own. Should be interesting...

Um, when does it get easier?

[busybusymama.livejournal.com]

Oh, I wasn't really specific enough. It was every 45 minutes AT NIGHT. During the day, she spaced it out more. I think that I wanted to rip my hair out of my head at night. It was exhausting.

When does it get easier? Good question. Maybe in about 20 years? Seriously, I look at everything stressful (to do with kids) as a phase. They constantly move in and out of phases. If you look at it that way, you will be able to see whatever the current stressful thing is as a phase. You know that it will eventually pass, and so it will seem a bit easier to cope with. At least, it does for me.

It is currently 10 pm. I JUST got Grace to sleep. I am not sure what is up with her. She is normally asleep by 7:30. I am exhausted (I've been up with her since 6am), frazzled, and not at all ready to go to sleep. I rented a movie for myself and need to watch it. Even if I don't watch it, I won't fall asleep right away. Either way, there is no way I will be rested enough to be fully functioning when she wakes up at 6am. :(

The good news is that at five years old, Jacob is SO EASY! I am trying not to get too comfortable with that, because I am told that there is a whole new level of stress coming up in the years ahead. :)

[sal_amanda]

Every 45 minutes at night is still horrendous. I can't even imagine.

I guess I've generally thought of myself as being good with kids. It's the baby stuff that's new to me and pretty darn overwhelming.

[i-am-solid.livejournal.com]

I apologize if my holding her all afternoon for four days has anything to do with her crankiness.

[sal_amanda]

I don't know if she's old enough yet to have learned to expect that. She had a good day yesterday so I think it just depends on her mood.