Last night I slept on Jerry’s leather recliner downstairs, with a Boppy pillow wrapped around my midsection and Alice on my lap. The poor kid is obviously in a lot of pain with at least two teeth preparing to cut, and she’s having trouble with it. She woke up last night at 8:30, 9:30, and 10:30, and it became obvious to us that this was going to be a horrible night for everyone if we didn’t come up with another solution. Since sleeping up on my side (to share space with Alice and make it easier for her to nurse while I sleep) has been putting my arms to sleep and thus causing my arms to ache all day, I decided that the recliner was the best option, temporarily.
So Jerry and I set up a little nest for me and Alice, and we were asleep almost immediately. She’d nurse for a while, and then I’d hold her close and snuggle with her until she wanted to nurse again. Unlike Helen, who went on a nursing strike when she was about to cut teeth, Alice finds it comforting. So I just let her. And I’d hold her close and snuggle with her, turn her around so she was facing outwards, etc.
Everyone slept better. I’m still probably the most sleep-deprived of the four of us, but last night was a VAST improvement. My mother thought this approach was a little nutso of me (especially the marathon nursing aspect of it), but then she spent some time with Alice over lunch and realized why I did it. Alice is M.I.S.E.R.A.B.L.E. …..and for such a usually-happy baby, it’s quite a switch. So yeah, one makes accommodations for the comfort of their child.
I can definitely feel a corner of a tooth that I believe has come up through the gum, though Alice won’t let me look at it to be certain. She’s now sleeping on her face in the Pack&Play while Helen refuses to nap upstairs. I have about 30 minutes before Jerry’s mom gets here to keep the girls while I tutor this afternoon, so I might take a quick catnap.
The recliner will probably be my Nightspot for the next few days until her teeth have cut through and she stops being quite so fussy. Poor kid.
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