About ten weeks ago, when our dear Kate was just a few ticks older than three months, she started sleeping through the night. We'd usually put her down around six thirty or seven, and then she'd wake up for a snack sometime around midnight before settling in for the rest of the night. So technically speaking she was only sleeping through half the night, but since we were never asleep before midnight, she was at least sleeping through our night.
After a few nights of this, she skipped the midnight feeding a couple of times, and we thought we home free. Could we really be so lucky? Was it really this easy?
Obviously not. As I said, this all happened about ten weeks ago, and I think she's slept through only two or three times since then. The worst news, though, is that Alison and Henry -- perhaps inspired by their younger sister -- have jumped on the bandwagon. Here's a rough account of one of our recent nights:
12:00 AM -- After composing yet another witty post for this site, I climb into my warm bed, looking forward to peaceful night of sleep.
12:30 AM -- Kate wakes me up. I can't really say that she's crying, because she doesn't really cry. It's more like the growling of a mountain lion, but not deep and scary like a mountain lion, so I suppose it's more accurate to say that she sounds like a baby mountain lion. I blink my eyes open and lie in bed for a few minutes hoping that the cougar down the hall will go back to sleep, even though I know that she won't. So I get up to make the bottle that I had refused to make before going to bed -- that just would've been admitting defeat.
12:33 AM -- As I'm walking down the hall with the fresh bottle, Henry calls to me. If Kate is a baby mountain lion, Henry is a squealing pig. I tell him that I'll come check on him as soon as I finish feeding his sister. "Okay, Daddy," he says.
12:35 AM -- "DADDY! DADDY!" It's Henry, and he's squealing at the top of his little piggy lungs. Sitting where I am, down the hall with Kate in my lap, I have no choice but to yell back that I'll be there soon. I can't imagine how it is that no one else is waking up...
12:40 AM -- Kate is back in her crib, slowly settling back to sleep, and I stop in to check on Henry. He's also asleep. Allah be praised.
12:41 AM -- I'm asleep as soon as my head hits the pillow.
2:00 AM -- "DADDY! DADDY! DADDY!" Henry is awake. Hoping to settle him down before he wakes anyone else, I jump out of bed and into his room as quickly as I can. I start rubbing his back to calm him down, and something is terribly, terribly wrong. His pajamas are wet, and so are the sheets. Beautiful. I strip his bed and replace the sheets, then do the same with his pajamas and underwear, making a mental note to give him a bath in the morning. I kiss him goodnight, and I'm pretty sure that he's asleep before I can even leave the room. The next day I'd come across a rather interesting list of famous bedwetters: Marth Stewart, Brittney Spears, Weird Al Yankovic, Bill Gates, Dennis Rodman, Sally Struthers, and George W. Bush. Since they all overcame their problems, I don't worry about Henry.
2:15 AM -- I'm asleep as soon as my head hits the pillow.
3:30 AM -- The baby mountain lion is on again, screaming for attention. I stumble into her room and give her the second half of her bottle. This appeases her, and goes back to sleep fairly quickly.
3:31 AM -- I'm asleep as soon as my head hits the pillow.
4:45 AM -- It's Alison's turn. She kisses my cheek to wake me up and announces that she can't sleep. She explains something about monsters in her room and asks if she can climb into bed with us. Too tired to slay the monsters or even answer in audible English, I simply throw back the covers, letting her climb in.
4:46 AM -- I'm not sure if I was ever really awake, but I'm sleeping now.
6:00 AM -- My alarm clock goes off. Paraphrasing the genius of George Costanza, the thought of a nap later that day is the only thing that gets me out of bed.
* Up above I gave you a list of several famous bedwetters. I have no reason to believe that anyone on that list has ever wet the bed, but wasn't it fun thinking that they had?
OK, I will officially stop complaining now about my lack of sleep and how Maggie wakes us up multiple times at night. I've been trumped, double-trumped, and triple-trumped.
I'll now go to the corner and cry like the sissy-dad I seem to be.
Posted by: Neal Patrick | November 29, 2005 at 09:22 AM
For the record, this post wasn't meant to imply that my journey has been any more difficult than any other dad's. I really do fall back asleep immediately (it's a gift, apparently), so I don't really have anything to complain about -- it just makes for a funny story. I certainly am sleep-deprived, but that's only because of my tendency to stay up ridiculously late. It has nothing to do with my kids.
Posted by: Hank | November 29, 2005 at 05:37 PM
I'll keep an open mind on whether all those famous people were bedwetters or not. But I'm not convinced that they've all "overcome their problems".
Posted by: David | November 30, 2005 at 05:35 AM
Sheesh! This makes me look like a negligent mama! Where in the world was *I* in this scenario?
Hmmmm, I guess your night of chaos is balanced by my nightmare of a morning. . .which involved a squealing pig pissing all over my pantleg!
I love you! You're the greatest daddy ever! EVER.
Posted by: Leslie | November 30, 2005 at 10:11 AM
I remember the first time my baby slept through the night at around four months I was feeling smug, but it's such a long journey, isn't it? The minute I think we've got a handle on the sleep thing, something new happens: teething, daylight savings time, travel, illness...
I can't imagine how hard it must be with three!
Posted by: lesbonstemps | November 30, 2005 at 02:26 PM
The thing that I have noticed when it is my night to get the bottle and feed my little chick...is that she eats, falls asleep and then I fall asleep and when I wake up in the morning it seems like a dream.
Posted by: David | December 03, 2005 at 08:00 PM
Our girl is a dream baby when it comes to sleeping. We have another on the way, so I'm sure this one will be demon baby just to make up for how good our first is!!
Posted by: Chocolate Makes it Better | December 04, 2005 at 01:57 PM
Hey, I've just found your blog and added it to my blog list. Let me know if you'd rather not be there.
Posted by: Sassy | December 06, 2005 at 05:54 PM
very interesting.
i'm adding in RSS Reader
Posted by: music | January 08, 2008 at 04:27 PM