The last several weeks (and even moreso in the last few days), I've felt like I've had a newborn again. A newborn who walks, talks, and gets into trouble, that is. Rebecca has been waking up over and over and over at night. And since she's had a fever, I feel like I need to go in each time to make sure she's not running a fever again. Some of the times she was. Others, she wasn't. She just woke up and couldn't put herself back to sleep on her own. It's like she's forgotten how. All I do is go in, tell her it's still nigh night time, and tell her to lay back down and go to sleep. And she does. But she needs me to go in and remind her. Ugh.
So I've been walking around like a zombie for days. So tired. And during the day she's been super fussy and clingy, too. A bad combination--a tired, fed-up mom and a fussy, sick, sleepy toddler.
Combine that with the fact that Rachel had several nights of waking up, coughing, and you've got a recipe for a VERY BAD DAY (and even worse nights). I've had several of them lately.
So on Monday I kept Rachel home from school for her cough (which was constant!) and took both girls to the doctor.
Both girls were diagnosed with a virus. Ugh. But I did manage to secure a prescription for Rachel for cough medicine with codeine--the only thing that seems to help her sleep when she has a bad cough (I'm the same way). So at least the doctor's office trip wasn't a complete wash.
So Rachel has slept the last two nights without waking up at all. Hooray! But Rebecca hadn't improved (even though she's been fever free for a day and a half). So last night, in a desperate attempt for sleep, I gave her the teeny-tiniest dose of children's benadryl. She hadn't had it before, so I wasn't quite sure it would work (I know sometimes it makes kids hyper, and I certainly didn't want that), but I was willing to give it a try, since there was a chance that it could help her (and me!) sleep.
I'm thrilled to report that it worked! I went to sleep at 10 PM last night and didn't wake up until 5 AM (without Rebecca crying--I just woke up because my body's so used to her waking me up at that time, I think). That's the longest stretch of sleep I've had in a long time. Of course, I woke up with a stuffy nose and a headache (thanks to my girls sharing their germs with me, I'm sure), but at least I got some uninterrupted sleep. YAY!!!
She woke up at 5:15. I went in to tell her she needed to go back to sleep, but she was complaining about her diaper. I checked, and she was wet through her clothes, so I changed her and put her back in bed. I got to go back to bed for another half hour, so it was definitely an improvement.
We'll see how today goes. Hopefully since we both got some sleep, she'll be a little less fussy and I'll be a little more patient.
No comments:
Post a Comment