Let’s set this up: beautiful Wednesday evening, 7.5 month old with her second cold in 3 weeks. Sticky, clear mucous, croupy cough, two more doses of cough medicine left from the last cold, and no doc appts available with my pediatrician till Friday Morning.
I think to myself – two days only, really it’s only one full day… I’ll be fine! I didn’t realize it was also two full nights.
Alexandria has sleeping issues. Since she was about 3 mos old, we could NOT get her to take a nap for allll the delicious pacifiers in the world. We found out when she was 6 mos old that this whole time she’d been allergic to the protein in her milk, switched to a milk protein free formula (no not soy, they have the same proteins) , and in 2 days she was sleeping through the night as if this new formula was magical. Now we were just left with the issue of FALLING asleep.
At 7.5 mos, she’s developed the art of sleep fighting into a true talent. Let’s just say if Floyd Mayweather was a professional sleep fighter, he’d be scared to fight Alexandria.
So you could imagine – bedtime is a fun hour long process where we tell ourselves it’ll be over soon. Like childbirth, or when she got her ears pierced, or the 2011 Florida Football season. “It’ll be over soon, and then the next will be easier” “the next time won’t be as bad” and “can u make sure she’s still alive” are common statements we make during this hour.
So – tonight during round 3,442 of sleep fighting – the crying and screaming spiraled into a coughing attack. Complete with a pouty lip, banshee screams, cries that lasted longer than the commercial breaks during the last season of Lost, followed by gasps of air that I’m pretty sure have prepared her lungs for many successful opera seasons.
When we finally got her calmed down and to sleep, the coughing fits hurt her so bad that she would wake up crying every time she coughed… So by 3am she was back in our bed. When they’re sick, it’s just so much easier to cuddle them back to sleep within arms distance.
So – fast forward to 5am. Pitch Black delicious sleepy darkness, air humidifier making tons of noise so I feel like I’m on a long tiring plane ride that’s equipped with a comfy bed.
All of a sudden SCREAMS. Screams that no consoling, butt patting, mommy bouncing, baby rocking, pacifier plugging could alleviate. After about 15 minutes of that we decide to just give her a bottle because we don’t know what else to do.
Boom, bottle in her mouth, she knocks out. We’re beyond relieved, and even though somehow her diaper leaked all over the place and we had to change all the sheets… None of that mattered because she was finally at ease.
In brand new clothes, fresh diaper with a full belly, my princess was finally asleep.
This is my Kairos.
There she was, laying between her father and I, in a bed that’s way too small, with sheets that don’t fit, our clothes sprinkled with mucous, milk free “milk” smell still lingering in the air, her snoring a little snore holding tightly onto my finger.
This makes the last 12 hours seem so far away, and brings me to a place where no realistic number of kisses on her funny little head could express the amount of love I have to give her.
This moment is being added to my collection.
Hope everyone has a fabulous day, only one more night to make it through. 🙂
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