Longing for the Sweet Relief of Narcolepsy

                            If they slept at night, these types of naps would not be necessary.

Life has gotten more complicated in the Gregg household.

If you read this blog, you know Sydney has always been a night owl. She has tormented her mother and I since birth with her inability to sleep through the night. She stays up as long as she can at night and often wakes up crying and screaming a couple or three times during the night.

The other night, we put her in bed at 9 p.m. I fell asleep at 10:30 and she was still awake, sitting in her crib talking to her stuffed animals. Brooke fell asleep a half hour later with Sydney still jabbering away.

I am sincerely glad she does not get us on the other end. While she may stay up as late as her little body will allow, and she is almost always good for a couple “Mommy, I need a drink” or “Mommy, help me’s” in the middle of the night, she is not a kid who wakes up at 6 a.m. in the morning. She’ll sleep as late as 10 on the weekends. This allows us to catch up a tiny fraction.

During the week, we just live like zombies.

Tyson has always been the good sleeper. But, as I said, life is getting more complicated.

Since birth, Tyson has slept in a rock-and-play that sits next to Brooke. Because of his heart issues, we wanted him next to us for monitoring purposes and feeding purposes. At one time, we were feeding him a fortified bottle four times a night. We are now down to three.

We decided a few weeks ago, he needed to transition to his crib in the other room. He’s 10 months old now, and that rock-and-play is too small for him. He no longer likes sleeping on his back, preferring to roll on his side. So, he rarely gets through a night in the rock-and-play without a couple of bouts of crying because he is uncomfortable.

We are trying the crib. He hates it. I think he prefers the snugness of the rock-and-play, or perhaps he just likes having his mom close. Whatever the reason, he pretty much cries as soon as you set him in the crib. Couple that with the fact he is eating more, getting more strength and becoming more rambunctious, and you have another Sydney on your hands. He doesn’t want to go to bed on time, fights you when you put him in the crib and, no matter where he is sleeping, wakes up a couple times each night in a crying fit.

Two kids who think they are rock stars and able to party all night.

Typical night: Sydney jabbers away until 11, Tyson fights us about going to bed after his 10:30 bottle feeding and finally falls asleep at 11-11:30, we wake Tyson at 2:30 to feed him, Sydney wakes up crying about a nightmare or water or whatever at 3- 4 a.m., Tyson wakes up crying about 5 a.m. because he is uncomfortable or unhappy, we wake Tyson at 6: 30 a.m. to feed him and we both get up at that time for work.

And, honestly, there is often at least one more wake up in there somewhere.

The other day, a woman at work said to me, “You always look tired.”

“It is not a look, Jane. I AM always tired.”

My poor wife. She gets the brunt of it. Many times, when the kids wake up, they don’t want me, they want her. Tyson will even refuse his 2:30 a.m. bottle from me, but, if Brooke takes it from me and puts it in his mouth, he will drink it.

Now think about that: these kids are waking up either because they are hungry, terrified by a nightmare or simply as uncomfortable as hell and daddy is still not an option for them.

I am a plague in my own house. Daddies have feelings too, you know.

Mommy may spend more time answering the call than daddy, but she also has the ability to fall asleep any place, any time, in about 30 seconds. She’s still breastfeeding, so it is not uncommon for me to walk out of the shower in the morning to find her pumping and feeding Tyson, with her eyes closed, sleeping while sitting up. It is pretty incredible.

The other night, she had to feed Tyson because he wouldn’t take the bottle from me. I swear, she set that bottle down, placed Tyson in his rock-and-play and was literally snoring within 30 seconds.

There are many nights when, after I feed Tyson or deal with one of Sydney’s outbursts, I lie in bed for another hour and a half just trying to fall asleep. Once I am up, it is very difficult to go back to sleep, no matter how tired I may be. Sometimes I pray for narcolepsy. Or an addiction to sleeping pills.

That’s life in our fast lane. Baby, you can lose your mind.