Baby, baby, baby
Today begins day 3 with Baby C. So far, things have been going fairly well with her. We are actually surprised at what an "easy" baby she is.
Yesterday, Mike and I made a point of making sure we were with her all day - both of us as much as possible & at least one of us within eyesight at (virtually) all times while she was awake. Friday night was a little rough for her. She woke up a crying a couple of times during the night, and while we were able to put her back to sleep pretty easily, she wasn't quite able to do that for herself. At 4am, she truly cried for the first time. She'd fussed and whimpered a couple of times Friday evening and had woken up once at 2am, but at 4, she really cried. I went in and picked her up and rocked her for a little while; I think that was the first time she was really scared or lonely. We realized that as part of a large family group (she has 3 older siblings), it was probably the first time in her entire life that she'd slept in a room alone at night. She went back to sleep briefly, but was up for the day by 6am.
So yesterday, we had two goals - 1) make her as comfortable as possible with us and 2) keep her awake long enough to help her sleep through as much of the night as possible.
Goal 1 wasn't too difficult. We took her on walks, we played with her, we talked to her almost non-stop (hoping she'd start saying something back) and tried to give her as much love and affection as we could. While she doesn't really get "play", she does enjoy some musical toys that we picked up for her at Goodwill. She likes things that make noise - a lot. She doesn't seem to understand cause-effect yet, but she does like making things sing and dance.
Even with all of this "noise", Baby C stayed quiet all day yesterday. She fussed a few times if she was left alone in a room, but nothing serious. We realized that she doesn't cry when she's hungry or sleepy, or even if she's wet. She'll just sit quietly until we realize that it's time to feed or change her. I've tried to be proactive about feeding and changing her often, but it would help if she was willing to "tell" us she needed something.
She did start motoring around a little bit yesterday. She doesn't walk, or really stand much, but she does crawl like a champ and has started following me or Mike if we leave the room. We also pulled out a walker that Steve and his wife gave us at our shower... she LOVES that.
Goal #2 was also relatively successful. Baby C did not completely sleep through the night, but we put her to bed around 9 (an hour later than Friday) and she slept until about 7:30 with only a single wake-up in the middle of the night. She started crying with gusto about 4am (I'm seeing a trend here). Mike went in to check on her and found her standing in her crib. She reached out for him, but stopped crying as soon as she saw him. He called it a "wellness check" - she wanted to make sure we were still around to take care of her. She didn't really need anything except to know we were there. Hopefully tonight we can make it through the whole night. She's a good sleeper - she doesn't fuss when we put her in her crib & actually puts herself down for naps during the day. One minute she'll be playing with her toys & the next she'll be laying herself down to sleep.
We're thinking third time is a charm. Since we don't have the proper paperwork, we can't put her in daycare tomorrow, so I'll be staying home with her... hopefully getting the paperwork in order so Tuesday we can go to daycare and both Mike and I can be at work. Let's keep our fingers crossed!
Yesterday, Mike and I made a point of making sure we were with her all day - both of us as much as possible & at least one of us within eyesight at (virtually) all times while she was awake. Friday night was a little rough for her. She woke up a crying a couple of times during the night, and while we were able to put her back to sleep pretty easily, she wasn't quite able to do that for herself. At 4am, she truly cried for the first time. She'd fussed and whimpered a couple of times Friday evening and had woken up once at 2am, but at 4, she really cried. I went in and picked her up and rocked her for a little while; I think that was the first time she was really scared or lonely. We realized that as part of a large family group (she has 3 older siblings), it was probably the first time in her entire life that she'd slept in a room alone at night. She went back to sleep briefly, but was up for the day by 6am.
So yesterday, we had two goals - 1) make her as comfortable as possible with us and 2) keep her awake long enough to help her sleep through as much of the night as possible.
Goal 1 wasn't too difficult. We took her on walks, we played with her, we talked to her almost non-stop (hoping she'd start saying something back) and tried to give her as much love and affection as we could. While she doesn't really get "play", she does enjoy some musical toys that we picked up for her at Goodwill. She likes things that make noise - a lot. She doesn't seem to understand cause-effect yet, but she does like making things sing and dance.
Even with all of this "noise", Baby C stayed quiet all day yesterday. She fussed a few times if she was left alone in a room, but nothing serious. We realized that she doesn't cry when she's hungry or sleepy, or even if she's wet. She'll just sit quietly until we realize that it's time to feed or change her. I've tried to be proactive about feeding and changing her often, but it would help if she was willing to "tell" us she needed something.
She did start motoring around a little bit yesterday. She doesn't walk, or really stand much, but she does crawl like a champ and has started following me or Mike if we leave the room. We also pulled out a walker that Steve and his wife gave us at our shower... she LOVES that.
Goal #2 was also relatively successful. Baby C did not completely sleep through the night, but we put her to bed around 9 (an hour later than Friday) and she slept until about 7:30 with only a single wake-up in the middle of the night. She started crying with gusto about 4am (I'm seeing a trend here). Mike went in to check on her and found her standing in her crib. She reached out for him, but stopped crying as soon as she saw him. He called it a "wellness check" - she wanted to make sure we were still around to take care of her. She didn't really need anything except to know we were there. Hopefully tonight we can make it through the whole night. She's a good sleeper - she doesn't fuss when we put her in her crib & actually puts herself down for naps during the day. One minute she'll be playing with her toys & the next she'll be laying herself down to sleep.
We're thinking third time is a charm. Since we don't have the proper paperwork, we can't put her in daycare tomorrow, so I'll be staying home with her... hopefully getting the paperwork in order so Tuesday we can go to daycare and both Mike and I can be at work. Let's keep our fingers crossed!
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