The other night RD and I had flashbacks to a time about 8-9 months ago - a time we didn't sleep.
AR woke up around 1:15 a.m. crying. She was sort of crying in her sleep, not an urgent cry, but an off-and-on-getting-ready-to-turn-into-a-you-better-check-on-me-cry. You fellow-moms know this cry. They are all pretty much over the cold, but I imagine they'll be hanging on to their runny noses for quite awhile. Kids just love their snot! I crept in their room and leaned in close, trying to hear if she was congested - sounded clear. I tucked her back in, wound up her little music-maker-thing-a-ma-jig, and went back to bed.
Now she's really pissed. I change her diaper, just to rule that out, then for the next hour go through many rounds of tucking her in, patting her back, and so on.
Now it's 2:30 a.m. I'm getting worried and stressing out because RD has a meeting early in the morning and has to get up at 6 a.m. Let me put on my Martyr Hat for a moment because here I was exhausted, knowing this was going to make for a God-awful day the next day, but I'm worried about the HubbyWhoHasToGetUpRealEarly. So in an effort to make things quiet so HubbyWhoHasToGetUpRealEarly can get some decent sleep, I take AR out on the couch with me. What do ya know? She goes right to sleep! Okay, what this tells me is that there is NOTHING wrong with her. After about 15 minutes I realize there's no way I can sleep like that (something I could never do...I'm a really light sleeper so the co-bedding thing would never work for me). I figure since she's obviously fine, now that she's asleep I'll just put her back in bed. She should be fine, right? Wrong.
As she's screaming in protest, I crawl back into bed and HubbyWhoHasToGetUpRealEarly grumbles, "Did you give her Tylenol? Maybe she's teething." Um, no. Feeling like a complete moron and failure as a mother for not even thinking about that I give her some Tylenol. I had completely given up on her ever getting teeth at this point, but maybe she's finally sprouting some.
Half-hour later...
RD: "This is ridiculous."
Me: "I know. She's not congested, she doesn't have a fever, I changed her diaper, gave her Tylenol, checked her toes and fingers for hairs (having an ER doctor for a husband is handy - checking for a hair caught around a toe is not something I would've ever come up with on my own)...I even tried laying out on the couch with her, but I couldn't sleep so I put her back to bed. Do you want me to take her back out there so you can get some sleep?" Thinking to myself, "See how good I am to you?"
RD: "Maybe that's what's wrong with her. Maybe she wants you to take her back out to the couch."
Me: GRRRRRR... "I took her out on the couch so you could get some sleep. Besides, she was crying for quite some time before I ever took her out there, so that's not the reason."
RD: "I don't know. I don't know if she's that smart to figure that out."
Me: huh? %$#@!
For the next 30 minutes RD takes several rounds of going in and tucking her in, patting her back, etc. The crying stops - he comes in holding her, "She's not going to sleep. She's coming to bed with us." Yea, this is going to work. And he was pissed I took her to the couch?!
If nothing else, we got to see how damn cute our daughter is for the next 15-20 minutes. She was wide awake, lying between us, and kept looking back and forth at each of us. Then, something she thinks is hilarious, starts shaking her head side to side, then looking at us with her big, cheesy grin. Then the "ba-ba-ba-da-da-da-tee-tee-tee" starts.
Me: "I can't sleep like this. Either I'm taking her out to the couch so at least one of us can get some sleep (him), or I'm putting her back in bed."
RD: "I don't care."
I put her back in her bed. She cried for about 10 minutes - then silence. As I'm sure you mothers can attest to, one thing more troublesome than the constant cry is the sudden end to the crying.
Me: "She just stopped. Just like that. Maybe I should check on her."
RD: "Go right ahead, but I'm DONE."
Well, I didn't check on her, and she was just fine and happy as ever that morning.
Two days later...two beautiful teeth.
