I scream, You scream, we all scream
I know you all don’t want to hear all the trials and tribulations of Monkey and how the kid cannot catch a break – but there is a direct correlation between this and the fact that I am eating 100 calories worth of popcorn and drinking a cup of coffee at 9:47 in a pitiful attempt to finish at least part of the work I need to get done tonight. So, we can say it is tangentially weight loss related.
That’s my story and I’m sticking to it. So, if you truly would rather not read about Monkey, check back tomorrow. Tonight it is all Monkey, all the time.
Last night at 12:20 a blood curdling scream comes from Monkey. I usually wait 5-10 minutes of wakefulness before going to him but the terror filled screams shook the house and I dash up the stairs knowing exactly what I am going to find at the top. A sound asleep child screaming their head off in the midst of a night terror.
Almost every article says that sleep terrors last an average of 30 minutes (this is not Monkey’s first) but my baby Monkey is an overachiever. At 1:55 he finally stops screaming and settles into a relatively restless sleep. But now his nose is all clogged up from screaming and crying and he can’t breath. So, guess what? Ten minutes after I lie him down (he was upright on me) and lie in my bed – AHHHHHHHHHHH! More screaming. This time at least he is awake. But he can’t breath. Now, being the loving, compassionate, sleep deprived person I am at this point, I would like to kill him. I am totally understanding shaken baby syndrome at the moment. So, I thank God that I have enough wits about me to understand (1) he is 3, (2) I am 35, (3) I outweigh the poor kid by 235 pounds, and (4) he is just as tired and miserable as I am. So, I lug him back downstairs to the rocking chair. Rock, rock, rock, and he’ll sleep for 10 minutes. So, at 3:30 I try to get him to take some Sudafed. Well, poor Monkey is too tied at this point to do anything. Therefore, being completely irrational, I slam the cabinet shut. Which doesn’t upset Monkey any more, but gets DH (and the D here is not dear right now people) out of bed FINALLY to say “What the hell is going on?” So, I hand him Monkey and say, “I need a break.” Twenty minutes later Monkey falls asleep for DH and he lies Monkey in bed with me and DH sleeps on the couch.
To all this, I have one thing to say – Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!
Even now as I am “working” (it was my deal with myself, get some done and I could blog) I can hear Monkey still awake in his room playing. A few of you have Emailed me or commented and have kids with special needs and we have all seen the eerie connection between sleep disorders and autism and other special needs. But, seriously, when is enough too much? The best thing about night terrors is allegedly he will have no clue he had them.
It is now 10:17 (I was interrupted), I have finished my popcorn and coffee and have decided if I can get at least four more patients transcribed doc will be satisfied at least until I can get some more done tomorrow.
FYI, I am not getting Emails notifying me I have comments. So every time I discover I have one it is a pleasant surprise. I have the boxed checked to send them, they aren’t in my junk mail, they are just in cyberspace, I guess. Meanwhile, every comment on the blog below this one was made at exactly 2 minutes after the hour? Not likely. Maybe the EP masters children have night terrors and they are so sleep deprived they can’t function either.