Sleep Troubles

Nights have been so bad lately for Meghan, which obviously affects us too. Ah, what I would give for a solid, undisturbed night of sleep. Someday hopefully, one can only dream :)

This is, and has been Meghan's sleep pattern for about a month consistently now. She goes to be at 9:30, no later usually. She will typically wake up between 12:30 and 1:45. She gets up, opens her door and stands at her gate. Matt and I get up, put her to bed and she goes back to sleep. Then, anywhere usually in the 3:00 hour, she gets up and does the same thing. However, this time when we put her to bed, she will act very fractious. She will, whine, flip over and just wring her hands. We attempt to settle her down then head off back to bed. At this time she will continue to get up over and over again. We can put her back down anywhere from 5 to 15 times and she just wont settle down. She will outlast us by over 3 hours. So...skip this part if you are a serious hardcore parent that wont give in to your children...we bring her to bed with us. Actually, she comes to bed with me and Matt goes into her bed.

I am not against co-sleeping. I did with both the girls the first few months after they were born. I know how easy it is to instill bad habits by giving in to their demands. But, we have to function. We have to get up everyday and go to work, take care of the house, take care of the kids, grocery shop, pay bills, yadda yadda yadda, and when you average 4 hours a night over a long period of time, something needs to give.

Last week I was constantly emailing Meghan's Neuro. In July when she went in for her last appointment, we told him that she gets up through the night (but she always went back to sleep). He suggested giving her some sleep medicine. I disagreed. The poor girl is on so much medication as it was, I couldn't do that to her. So, last week, I emailed him..."I need you to call Meghan in some sleep medication as soon as possible!!!". I was desperate for 6 hours of sleep at the very least and besides, what's one more medication...right! He jumped right on that, we got the prescription, gave it to her, and settled in for a peaceful nights sleep...wrong.

It does nothing for her. Absolutely nothing!! I bet you anything, I could take that medication and be out for 12 hours (I will not confirm nor deny that I medicine share with my child). I don't get it, is it stubbornness or what.

So needless to say, I once again emailed her Neuro and said that I was adjusting her medication back to how it was before she started becoming so fractious. I did not ask for permission I emailed him due to the fact that I did not want to have a face to face about what I had done two months from now when she goes back.

Last night was our first night of going back to our medicine regime, and she was actually less fractious (in scientific terms, her Valporic acid was elevated due to the reintroduction of the Depakote). She did end up in bed with me and Matt did end up in Meghan's bed, but overall, I think I slept 6 semi undisturbed hours...and I feel FRYK GREAT!!!

Disclaimer regarding this morning: So Matt was sound asleep in Meghan's bed and I heard Matt's work phone ring. Um, I wasn't about to jump out of bed to eagerly deliver him his work phone (which was more than likely a call needing him to come in to work). Oh, I chuckled to myself, closed my eyes only to be brutally shaken by the house phone ringing. As Matt went off to work, I was left awake, sitting on the couch, at 6 am, with a very rambunctious 3 year old. Lesson learned...I will throw Matt his frykn work phone next time!

Sleep troubles or not...I would find a way to walk to the moon and back for this sweet child. She is my heart!