as you've probably guessed from the title of this post, we put Shi in her crib for the first time last night. i had fully prepared myself, mentally and physically, for an entire night/morning of exhaustive crying (on both our parts). prior to this, she had been sleeping in her cradle swing right beside our bed, and was consistently sleeping about 5 hours before waking up to eat, and then she'd go back down for a few more hours.
so last night, i got her ready for bed, fed her, wrapped her in the miracle blanket allison had let us borrow (which yes, to be honest, DOES appear to be something along the lines of a baby straight jacket), and then placed her in the crib in her sleep positioner. she was pretty wide awake, but it was already 10:55 PM so I figured we needed to get started with the whole ordeal. then I went to the living room, turned the monitor receiver on, and continued reading in the girlfriend's guide to surviving the first year of motherhood (fabulous and hilarious!) which leslie had let me borrow (i am realizing i borrow a lot of things!) and waited... and waited... after 10 minutes of only some slight grunting and "baby noises" i went in to check on her. i was sure she would have been screaming by now! but there she was, laying there staring at the wooden part of her crib, still awake. convinced that she was still breathing (which i must have checked at least 50 times before i finally went to bed, no joke) i went back to the living room and continued reading. i repeated this cycle about 20 times... part of the way through, she had fallen asleep, obviously, but i still could not bear to go to bed yet (i stayed awake doing this for 2 hours). i actually was the one who ended up crying, as i ran into our bedroom and protested to nick, "but she looks so LONELY in that big room all by herself!!!!" shiloh never once even fussed.
and....drumroll... the best part was, she slept 7 hours!!!! it was amazing. of course, i got up in the middle of the night to go make sure she was breathing again when i couldn't hear anything on our bedroom monitor. but even when she started waking up after 7 hours, she wasn't crying at all -- she was just grunting and wiggling.
SOOOOOO.... to sum a short story that i made into a very long one.... the first crib experience didn't go at all how i'd anticipated it would... and it may have been a fluke (we might really be in for it tonight!)... but we'll see!! and part of the success may be attributable to the blanket, which calms her down because it doesn't allow her to houdini her arms out...but for now, i'm so proud of my baby girl it almost brings tears to my eyes (again)!
happy st. patrick's day!!
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5 comments:
I'm so glad that it went so smoothly for you! I totally understand about you checking on her a bunch and tearing up. I did the same thing. I think sometimes the transitions and milestones are harder one me than on Lillie Kate. :)
that is so awesome!
i'm so proud of shiloh! (and you!) for making it through the first night.
nella actually slept for 7 hours last night too! yay!
however, nella has a hard time actually falling asleep. she cries when we first put her in her crib. but once she actually falls asleep, she stays asleep for a decent amount of time.
also,
nella has been sleeping in her crib since her first night home from the hospital . . . and i STILL check her frequently to make sure she's breathing! it must be a 'normal' mom thing!
and, i think i want to read that book! it looks practical, yet entertaining!
wow! Way to go for both of you! Hope that by posting it you didn't jinx yourself... :) yep- it's a mom thing to go check on them- I still check on Matthew if I wake up and he hasn't... it's really scary the first time they sleep through the whole night- and you do too... "luckily" we haven't had that problem too many nights- HA! :)
Carrie loved your post and laughed b/c I do the same thing. I check on Lily too, but we have a monitor that senses movement. So if it doesn't sense anything after 20 seconds it sounds like a fire alarm. Lily has been in her crib since day one. At first she didn't like it, but it was b/c her room was too quiet. We also have a houdine blanket. Lily doesn't like her arms wrapped in it, she sleeps with them over their head. Seven hours is wonderful...hope that continues for you all :-).
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