Uninterrupted sleep

Uninterrupted sleep - what is that again?  Will we ever have a night of uninterrupted sleep ever again in our lives?  I don't think that once you become a parent that you ever sleep soundly ever again.  That's my conclusion. 

Although Claire has vastly improved on her nighttime sleeping habits, she still seems to wake herself up at least once a night (usually 2-3 times).  We don't have to go into her room and rock her back to sleep though.  She has gotten pretty good about soothing herself back to sleep.  So that is GREAT!  But everytime she wakes up, I wake up in anticipation of figuring out what is wrong and if she is going to be able to soothe herself back to sleep without our assistance. 

With these weird temperatures, it's stiffling some nights in her room and then freezing some nights.  So I think sometimes she wakes up either hot or cold.  I can usually sneak in her room and either turn the ceiling fan up or off and that seems to work. 

Or some nights, I Claire scoots herself all the way into the corner of her crib which means she scoots off of the sensor under her mattress that detects her breathing.  Yes, even at 20 months of age, we still use the Angel Care SIDS monitor (one of the BEST inventions E.V.E.R.).  I'm telling you, if we didn't have that SIDS monitor, I would just not sleep at all.  It's not just because Claire has health issues that I still use this monitor.  One reason we use it is because it was the closest thing to having the monitors on Claire like in the hospital so long.  I knew when she was in the hospital, she was hooked up to some sort of montior 24/7 so we always knew what was going on with her.  When we came home with nothing, the SIDS monitor was the closest thing.  It was great to have it. 

Secondly, I am just a freak about breathing.  If I ever babysat your child, rest assure that if they took a nap or went to sleep while I was babysitting, I sat over them and watched them to make sure they were breathing.  Seriously.  I guess it's just one of my fears.  So I would probably sit over Claire every night and make sure she was breathing if we didn't have the SIDS monitor.  I will probably use it until she goes off to college.  I just wish they made the sensor pad larger so it would cover more space under the mattress.  Hey - don't judge. 

So long story short, I have to go into her room and turn the monitor off when it starts beeping.  So that wakes us up.  Claire continues to sleep through that most of the time. 

And then I think as parents, you just don't ever really get into a deep sleep anymore as you are always trying to be aware of what is going on in your house and if everyone is ok.   And wake up constantly looking at the video monitor to make sure Claire is still in the crib, her foot is not stuck in the rungs, the blanket is not near her face, etc. 

So we probably never will know uninterruped sleep again, which is ok.  It's much better than having to wake up and stay up for an hour or 2 during the night.  Just know that when you see me and I look like I haven't had a good nights' sleep in a while, that is probably the case.  And you do not have to remind me that I look that way.  I already know. 

Love,
The Scott Family