Sleep

While I was pregnant with Nicole many parents warned Shawn and I to, "sleep while you still can" and then told us tales of how they hadn't slept through the night in 1 year, 5 years, 11 years. . . all depending on the age of their children at the time.  I was rattled by the warnings but couldn't wrap my mind around the idea of entering a prolonged season of interrupted sleep.

We welcomed Nicole into the world a little before 1am on a Saturday morning and due to the intermittent contractions that had started over 24 hours before that, neither Shawn or I had slept in over a day.  We had just experienced the exhausting and miraculous birth of our daughter and we were finally ready to go to sleep.  I was hit with my first wave of exhaustion when nurses were buzzing around our room until 3am checking vitals, weighing, measuring, bathing and otherwise readying our space for our new family of 3.  The hospital staff wanted to help me shower but I insisted they leave so we could all settle in for the few remaining hours of the night.  They graciously agreed and we finally got to close our eyes. Moments latter our 7 pound bundle of joy started wailing and only quieted when she was held.  My new mom adrenaline kicked in and I held, rocked, and soothed my brand new baby while Shawn did his best to slumber on the plasticky couch next to my bed.

In the weeks that followed our hospital stay we still didn't get much sleep.  I attribute that season of sleeplessness to the fact that we had a brand new baby and we were first time parents so none of us really know what we were doing.  Fast forward to today, one year and 4 months later, and I can honestly tell you that in the last 16 months I have only slept through the night about a dozen times.  I feel like I could write a novel about all of the reasons why Nicole hasn't mastered the art of staying asleep but none of it really matters.  I am amazed at how well I can function with such limited amounts of sleep but even still I am determined to not join ranks with the parents who warned me that my sleep-filled nights were ending for good.

After a few especially long months of prolonged night-waking due to teething, I am more than ready to crawl into bed and stay there until morning.  Shawn and I started praying that Nicole would learn to sleep through the night and low and behold I started feeling convicted that I needed to do some sleep training.  God miraculously cleared my schedule last week so with nothing on my calendar except taking care of my energetic little girl I knew the time was right.  I started sleep training last week Monday night and by the weekend we had broken Nicole's old sleep cycle.  With the old sleep habits broken, we've been able to successfully implement a new strategy for getting Nicole back to sleep when she does occasionally wake in the night and we're better equipped to identify if she's awake due to teething pain or hunger.

Between growth spurts and teething we still have plenty of long nights ahead of us in the days and months to come.  However, I feel confident that we've taken a huge step towards correcting a chronic problem and I've already added a handful of sleep-filled nights to my list in the last couple of days.

This past week and a half has made me extra thankful for Shawn's unwavering support of me and the ways God faithfully leads our family.

This week I am praying that you will find rest and peace in the days to come.
With love,
Erica

P.S. A huge thank you to my sister Anna for putting the resource in my hands that equipped me to sleep train successfully.  And - thanks to both my sisters for setting the example of what it looks like to help your kids learn how to sleep better.  All of your hard work made me believe better sleep was achievable for my whole family!