Crazy

Sleep deprivation makes me crazy (or maybe sane?)

Today I told DH that I do not want to try for another one. That I'm too exhausted and one is enough. I even said, "and God forbid we have twins!" He laughed and said that's the same thing I said when I was exhausted during her newborn stage.

So maybe I should wait awhile before I declare her an only ;-).

Lack of sleep makes everything worse. What's worse is I'm working nights all weekend then will be up with her Tues while DH is at work and I've had no sleep. Pretty sure on Tuesday I will never ever want any more babies. LOL

Teething

My daughter's first tooth came through the day before she turned 8 months old. She had been an angel that week - even slept all night long twice (the only two times she ever has). I smugly thought that this would be a breeze. Clearly I jinxed myself.

2 days later she was clearly not feeling well. 99.9 temp, fussy, and worst of all waking up crying every 1-2 hours overnight.

2 1/2 weeks later she is still waking ALL. NIGHT. LONG. Last night she slept a 3 hour stretch finally which was miraculous. I've tried Tylenol or Motrin. before bed and in the middle of the night to no avail. We've tried orajel and homeopathic gel. Finally I broke down and bought a Baltic amber teething necklace. She has had it on for 24 hours so far--I hope it makes a difference.

Way to increase sperm quality?

Must. Buy. Walnuts!

http://www.imperfectparent.com/topics/2012/08/19/walnuts-improve-sperm-health-study-shows/

8 months

Pipsqueak turned 8 months yesterday...and celebrated by getting her very first tooth the day before!  Yay!!!!!

Her sleep habits have been AMAZING lately.  She is sleeping 8 hours in a row without waking at all at night.  Naps have all been independent and from 1-3 hours.  I feel like we have turned a corner (KNOCK ON WOOD!).

Now if we could just get her into the crib...she is totally hooked on our bed.  I joke that we will just keep her with us forever and if we ever have a second baby he or she will use the crib.  Haha.  Probably true though :-)

We have a lot to look forward to...a trip to CA in Sept for DH's work, a tip to FL and Disneyworld in April with my bro-in-law, sis-in-law and 2 nieces,  holiday plans with both of our families, and obviously just enjoying our little ball of energy.

xoxo

Preliminary information gathering

We are in the preliminary stages of talking about when we may try IVF again. First we both obviously want to get retested and make sure nothing has gotten worse. Hopefully hubby still has a few swimmers and hopefully my FSH didn't go up...it was randomly high during our IVF cycle, like 11.7 or something. It really stressed me out but then we got 19 eggs retrieved so who knows.

Question - how long after weaning should I wait to a.) get my hormone levels rechecked and b.) start IVF again?

We plan on weaning after her first birthday, so Januaryish. I kinda would like to jump back in and try IVF in March but hubby thinks that is too soon and I guess I concur. We are planning a Disneyworld vacay with family in April so maybe after that, June/July.

Good God it makes me nervous even thinking about it. In my heart of hearts I don't think it will work (I didn't the first time either). But somehow not trying doesn't feel right. If we try and fail then we at least gave it a go.

Please tell me that 7 months is a normal time for a growth spurt? Last few nights she has been eating several times. Last night:
Fed at 9:30
Fed at 12
Fed at 2
Fed at 6:30
Not ok.

And oh dear lord this heat. Will it ever end?!?!

Luckily we leave for vacation to Washington state tomorrow - high 59 there today! Woohoo!!

Sleep update (thank you)

First off thanks to everyone for sounding off on sleep. I knew that everyone probably struggles with this at some point (and if you don't then count your blessings!) and would have some perspective.

One comment really hit home - that there are very few teenagers waking up crying in the night. Thank you Brandy!!! This really lightened my load somehow. I mean, we all figure it out. My mom co-slept and breast fed me until I was 3 (such a rebel in the early 80s! Hi mom!) and she said I then transitioned to my big girl bed and falling asleep on my own. Now I will probably wean pipsqueak sometime soon after her first birthday and try to move her to her crib soon thereafter.


In the meantime I want my little girl to start to learn some self-soothing techniques. One thing I read about is a transitional item? Like a soothie or blankie? Last night we slept in bed together with her stuffed frog in between us. By morning she had tossed it aside and was snuggled up against my back. Lol she loves to snuggle!

But some progress people. First off I did not rock her or embrace her to help her drift off. I put her far away from me in the bed (we have guardrails up) and I turned away from her. She had her paci, her frog and was covered up with a sheet. (holy hell it's hot here!!). She got herself to sleep! She talked to herself, kicked around a little, and then I heard her furiously sucking on the paci. 10 minutes later I use my iPhone light to spy on her and she was sound asleep! Maybe this is no big deal to some but I felt a victory!

We are gonna give her a few days off from the crib. I realized that she has almost never slept in her crib before this week and we let her cry twice in it now. So she is associating her crib with scary and aloneness. In a few days I will restart safe naps there. And maybe let her play in it wide awake? It's got to be a positive experience.

I feel guilty that we tried CIO. This parenting thing is hard!

I did realize one very big positive about having a baby with no strict nap/bed schedule : we can take her to concerts! July 3 we took her to an outdoor Dark Star Orchestra concert. She LOVED it! Total hippie this one! She danced in our arms, hummed along and then fell asleep on her daddy with no drama. We stayed til 11:30!