What we learned:1) Waking every three hours does not mean 30 minutes of feeding and then 2 1/2 hours to sleep. The process of changing him, giving him medication, feeding him, burping him, and then lulling him back to sleep takes somewhere between 60 and 90 minutes, meaning we might get an hour or so sleep before it's time to start over again.
2) We won't sleep through his apnea monitor alarming. His nurse Christina snuck in and set it off in the middle of the night to make sure. I think you'd have to be very hard of hearing not to wake when that thing starts shrieking.
3) Charlie makes LOTS of noise while he sleeps.
4) Mom wakes up when Charlie makes any noise, even the little grunting noises he makes while he's sound asleep, and has a hard time getting back to sleep herself.
5) Dad sleeps right through the noises.
But most importantly, we learned that, while we will be tired, we can do this!
Today he's finally getting his MRI. That's what kept him from going home Friday or over the weekend - apparently, it's really hard to get on the MRI schedule. We were assured this morning that he'd get it today. So hopefully he'll be home tonight, but if they have to sedate him for the MRI (sometimes babies require sedation, but not always) then we'll have to wait until tomorrow. Either way, it won't be long! And in the meantime, we'll be napping!
7 comments:
I'm glad everything is working out, and those pictures of you and Charlie, I still rub my eyes in disbelief. George G is some kid's dad! Happy father's day man, sure you won't forget this one.
I think it's a riot that you are realizing that 3 hour feedings doesn't equal 2 1/2 hours of sleep. That's the problem!! I hope that you will soon be able to sleep through his little noises... it might be after a few weeks of sleeplessness that you finally start sleeping harder. :) That's the upside. Good luck! ~ jodi
"Mom wakes up with every noise" and "Dad sleeps through it". What a perfect description of parenthood. :-)
Sounds like real life!! As soon as you feel confident leaving Charlie with someone, we want to babysit and give you guys a few hours off! Maybe you could catch a movie or whatever...or even catch up on sleep!
Claire
Oh, your #1 made me laugh--it is so familiar! It must be wonderful (and terrifying) to be just about ready to bring Charlie home--I remember how scared I was with Norah at first and know you must be feeling it all tenfold. But before you know it, you will be pros. Good luck!
I remember learning those lessons, too! Isaac took about 1 hour to nurse EACH time for the first 2-3 months of life!! I'm not sure I can say it gets better, you just get used to it. We haven't brought him to bed with us in at least 8 months and I still wake up EVERY NIGHT thinking he's rolled out of bed!
Welcome to motherhood. Tom never woke up either, even when I'd leave a screaming baby next to him to go fetch a diaper! God bless you Marie!
We are so thrilled for all of you. You will be masters at this in no time. Hopefully Elwood adjusts pretty quickly too!
Can't wait to see you all.
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