Brianna has started down the path of no sleep again. She has been coming to get me up most nights here recently at about midnight and does not want to go back to sleep. There have been a select few nights where she only sleeps about 2 hours. Not good on mommy's system but Bri is having the time of her life! The middle of the night seems to be her favorite time to get the giggles and I don't just mean the kind where you hear something funny and laugh at that particular joke. Nope, the kind where you giggle uncontrollably for absolutely no reason and you can't stop. This is great for my little angel as I just adore hearing her laugh...not so great on mommy who does not take jokes very well at 2:00 am in the morning. She also loves to find any toy she can find and bounce it off the wall or down the hall to see what racket it makes which takes a toll on the nervous system after so many throws. Imagine a construction crew working in the middle of your living room at midnight....where are those ear plugs??
This brings back memories from when she was first diagnosed at 3. I remember for nights and even weeks where she would go with almost no sleep at all. It amazed me how long she could go without something that is so essential to most of us. One week, we were on a roll with only about an hour of sleep a night. I looked like a zombie and felt like one too. That much lack of sleep can make you feel like you are floating on a cloud and hearing everything from an echo. I'm saying this with tons of experience. I can still recall the day I stepped into the Pediatricians office with tears in my eyes. I was so discouraged and that poor doctor probably thought I had just escaped from a mental facility when the first thing out of my mouth was, "I need sleep!" Thankfully, she smiled and patiently asked me to sit down. We talked about possibilities, one which involved sleeping medications. I was against this option because she was so young and I couldn't bear having to think of giving her a medication every night for the rest of her life. I'm not at all putting that down though as I know many parents who have to go for that option and it works very well for them. I just asked if we could try something else before going down that route. She suggested trying a vitamin called Melantonin and try harder on a goodbed time routine. That seemed like a much better option and I left immediately to find a drugstore so I could buy this miracle vitamin. And boy was it a miracle! I put her on the smallest dose that I could find and would read her a book or give her a bath and make the whole tucking in process a HUGE deal. She finally got into a routine and I was able to take her off the melantonin. We now only use it when needed and her routine gets off kilter so to speak. Amazingly during these off times, Kevin and my youngest children, Charlie (age 5) and Addy (age 7 months), sleep through all the giggling, noise, and throwing of toys. It shocks me how the three of them can sleep so soundly when it sounds like a giggling tornado is barreling through the house. I swear the sand man sprinkled them with a little extra of his magic dust and somehow missed out on poor Brianna So Sandman, you missed one in our house...sigh...guess that means I need to fill your shoes for a few nights.... You're Fired!!
P.S. On a positive note....some of our best bonding time has come out of those wee hours of the night when she crawls in my lap with all those sweet giggles and big kisses.
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