Blissful Sleep

She did it! She finally did it! Isla slept through the night! I know I have written about sleep training her a while ago. And, although that did work to get her to sleep most of the night in her crib, she was still waking up every night somewhere between 1-3am. It didn't really matter what I did. Cry it out, pat her butt, rock her, or just lay her down without picking her up. Nothing kept her from waking up. I don't know what was the matter. I don't know if she had just gotten into a habit of waking at that time, or if she was having trouble falling into a deeper sleep around that time, but something needed to change. And, it did, just in time. This mama was having quite a time every night. Going a full year without one full night sleep is extremely rough. I felt like a zombie most the time and I can't count how many times I yawned throughout the day.

There were a few nights where I would lay on the floor in their room with my arm raised and hand through the crib slats, patting her butt while I laid there crying. Wishing that I could get a full nights rest. That, my friends, was extreme exhaustion.

I don't know how she did it, or why, or if it simply was just a blessing from God, but all of a sudden, she slept through the night. I was so happy in the morning, actually enjoyed getting up, felt great and was well rested. And, basically thought it was just a one time deal. I put her to bed the next night, thinking, expecting really, to get up in just a few short hours to try to put her back to sleep. And, yet, she did it again. Slept all night. She has done this for, I'm not even sure, maybe a week or two now. It is terrific. I can't even put into words how much I love to go to sleep at night now. Knowing that I might not have to get up at 2am and stay up for an hour plus. I used to dread night time. I would put Isla to bed knowing that it was only for a short time. Knowing that I would be up in a few hours trying to soothe her. Trying to creep out of the room, undetected. Knowing that if I stepped on one creaky board, it was over. And, knowing that I could be up for an hour, or more, and several times. I think that was maybe half of the exhaustion. Now, I can take a couple months of the whole wake up all night thing when they are first born. I felt like I did great with Isla. With Sahara, I had a hard time adjusting to the never sleeping thing, but only because she was my first and I never had to get up all night long before. I guess what they say is true, as soon as you have kids, you never sleep. But, a year without sleep is a long time. A really long time. A super long time.

She still wakes up real early. Always at 5am. That could really make a person cringe, but she does come into bed with us straight away, nurses and falls right back asleep until 8:30 or somewhere around there. But, I am trying to wean her completely, that will be a whole other post, so hopefully she can handle the bottle in the morning and have the same results as the nursing.

A couple nights ago was tough. Both girls were up all night. If one fell asleep, the other one woke up. I felt like a volleyball being tossed around between the two of them. I don't know what it was, but hopefully it didn't throw Isla off her groove. I think that would have made me cry, but last night, she slept right through again. Most likely, now that I have dedicated an entire post to her sleeping through the night, I will have jinxed myself now and she surely will go back to waking every night. I'm going to knock on every piece of wood in my house tonight. :) I'm only slightly joking...