Sleeplessness...

We've been joking for awhile that Owen's sleep patterns are what I get b/c I hate to nap and I force myself to stay awake and alert through a sometimes crazy schedule and too much life busyness. I do this as an adult and I did this as a kid. Nap time was a dirty word when I was a child. It brought on fits of dreads every time I heard it. It still does that same thing to me. But...I love me some sleep...at night...when it's dark...and the clock reads anytime after oh say 12am! So it's been a rough few weeks with Mr. O and convincing him that night time is for sleeping. We're almost to that blessed month mark. One that promises hopefully to bring us more sleep filled nights...so we've been waiting for a pattern to emerge. But while we are waiting for a pattern to emerge...the one that starts Owen on a "I sleep all night" pattern...a different kind of pattern has emerged. And I'm not so sure Jer and I like it too much!

So far...our adorable, oh so lovable son has been your typical newborn. Oh so cute and lovable until 2am when we're both completely exhausted and he's not so much. Jer and I were in for sleepless nights...no doubt about that! What we didn't expect was for Owen to have nights of completely sleeplessness. We're talking hours on end of awake time. So far we've clocked 4 or more nights where he has remained awake from the hours of 9:30pm till 2, sometimes 3 and yes...even 4am without even so much as a nap. Or the faintest flitter of a nap in his eyes. The pattern emerging provides Jer and I with one hopeful, blissful night of sleeping in the typical newborn blocks from say 11:30 to 3. Then 4 till 6:30...then even sometimes 7:30 till 10:30am. At this point...it's not a solid nights sleep...but it's blocks of time where we can escape to our bed and one or both of us can get some solid hours of sleep. The next night however, we're slammed with hours on end of wide-eyed awake time with our son. It's like the changing of the guards at the tomb of the unknown solidier. Jer paces the floor to keep him calm and quiet from the hours of 9:30 till 1 or 2. Then I get up after 2 short hours of sleep and relieve him so he can go to bed till he has to get up for work. Some may say he has his days and nights confused. But I personally don't know how he could. He is awake with me for at least an hour and a half each time I feed, change and play with him during the day. Newborns are supposed to sleep nearly 20 hours a day. If you add up all the times I feed him...nearly once every 3 hours all day long...he's getting less than 20 hours just in feeding, changing and play time...without the added sleeplessness at night. So how you may ask does he stay awake for 5, 6, even 7 hours on end? It's the question puzzling both Jer and myself. So today I put a call into the pediatrician. I'll keep you posted on what they tell us! Until then...please say a prayer that his rice cereal begins to kick in and that Mom and Dad get their nights back in a few shorts weeks!