Happy and Peaceful

I am particularly grateful for the blessing of this child.

This is why

Samantha's mattress is still on the floor.

And yes, she really is still asleep in this one.

It's here, it's here!

We have been looking forward to today for over a year, and it is finally here!

When Samantha first saw her GI doctor and started her second reflux medication, we were told that most babies outgrow their reflux about the time that they start sitting up. Well Samantha started sitting up sometime last summer, but her reflux didn't get better. The Dr. Argao said she would probably outgrow it when she started crawling. She started crawling in Novemeber, but she still didn't outgrow her reflux. So next he said that she would probably outgrow it when she was a year old, but that didn't happen either.

Dr. Argao stopped making predictions at that point and I started wondering if we had one of the 3% of children with reflux who do not outgrow it. Then Samantha suddenly started doing much better in the early spring, and I started being hopeful that we would be starting to wean her off the medication at her next GI appointment...until she started throwing up again and we had to increase the dose.

We saw Dr. Argao in June and he said that she weighed enough that we could increase the dose, but she was still doing great, so we didn't need to. He also said that when he saw her 3 months later that if we still had not increased the dose, we would be able to talk about weaning her off. So she saw Dr. Argao again yesterday...and she has had no signs of reflux. She didn't even throw up when she was hysterically crying the other day. So today we move her from 3 times a day to twice a day on her bethanachol. And if we have no problems after a week, we take her completely off it. And if we have no problems for a month after that, we give her half her dose of prevacid. Then she sees Dr. Argao in November and if everything looks good at that point, she will be off all her reflux medicines. WOOHOO!!!!

I think she gets it

Hopefully I didn't just jinx myself, but I think that Samantha understands that she has to stay in her bed when we put her there. She did not get up at all last night...not even when she was crying for us. She sat on the end of her bed and cried, waiting for one of us to come get her. And that was the only time we had to go in to her, too. And it was before she fell asleep, which didn't take very long at all. Yeah for more sleep! :)

The rest of the story...

My sister-in-law made an announcement on facebook last night so now I get to tell the rest of the story from the July 4th weekend.

When Dave and Staci got to the house, Emma walked in with a shirt that said "Big Sister" How exciting! Samantha will be getting a brother or sister in December and then a new cousin in late February or early March. Staci told us that when they told Christopher and Emma that they were having a baby, Emma said "I never ever thought that I would be a big sister!" and "I'm so excited that I think I'm going to throw up," as well as a few other cute statements (which I can't remember now) that reflected how excited she is. She also said that she wanted to wear a shirt like Samantha's (the big sister shirt that we made our announcement with.) I can't remember what Christopher said, I knew I should have written down all those things that Staci told me! So Staci, maybe you can help me out...it was all so cute!

It is very exciting to be getting another baby in the family!

So today I am thankful
-- that we will get a new niece or nephew to love on
--that our new baby is growing, kicking and seems to be doing very well
--that we had a really cool lightning show last night and had a little bit of rain
--that we have a three day weekend that starts at 5pm :)

sleeping with no problem

Samantha went right to sleep in her big girl bed last night. She didn't get up a single time once I put her down and she slept the entire night. Yahoo!!!

Thankful

I said awhile back that I was going to better at being thankful everyday. Well, I noticed that I haven't been focused on following through, so today I am writing a few things that I am thankful for...and maybe I will do this most days until it is truly a habit...I will try at least

Today I am thankful
--that I get to hear the new baby's heartbeat tomorrow (even if I have to drink nasty sugar stuff first)
--that the doctor's office said we can use Vick's Vapo Rub on Samantha and she slept much better last night
--that I have had and do have a job while Brent's work hours have been cut back
--that the mornings have been so cool and lovely
--that I have a wonderful family

Who Needs Sleep?

The Grelle's do!

We have stopped putting Samantha to sleep in her crib as of Saturday night. When Brent was at his parents house, his mom made a cushion to go between her big girl bed and the wall so that the wall won't hurt her anymore. Yeah Memaw!!

Samantha fell asleep on the way home Saturday, and we just put her straight into her big girl bed. She woke up in the middle of the night and I found her sitting on the floor in front of her crib crying and saying "mamie" (translation - lambie, her beloved pink stuffed lamb.) I told her that lambie was in her bed and that she needed to stay in her bed, too, then put her back in her bed and handed her lamb to her. I think she slept the rest of the night, but I'm not sure. I've been too sleep deprived since then to remember details.

Sunday night we put her to bed at 7pm which is her regular bedtime. She was still awake at 8:30. She kept getting out of bed and walking elsewhere in her room or in the house. When she came into the kitchen, she told me "hi" with a big smile on her face. I think she was proud of herself for getting out of her bed and walking into the kitchen. I took her back into her room and told her that if she got out of bed again, she would get a spanking. She did get out of bed again about 5 minutes later and got her spanking (the second one ever.) She cried a little bit, but did lay in her bed and fell asleep not too long after that. But then she cried in her sleep several times during the night...she does seem to have nightmares a lot, and this was not a good night for her. And I wake up each time and go to soothe her, so that means it wasn't a good night for me, either.

Monday night was awful. She took more than two hours to finally go to sleep. She got up twice and didn't get in trouble. She said that she had to go potty and she did each time. But then the trouble began. She kept getting up, over and over and over. As soon as I put her back in her bed, she was up again. She finally got a spanking from me. She didn't cry at all and was back out of bed within 10 minutes. So then Brent went in and spanked her and put her back in bed. While Brent was dealing with her, I was calling my mom asking if she is too young and we are just pushing her because we don't want to have to buy another crib for the new baby. Mom said, no, she is big enough to move into her big bed, she just has to learn to stay there and that it will get better.

Samantha did cry when her Daddy spanked her, but she still didn't stay in bed and was up again 10 or 15 minutes later. It was my turn again and she got the third spanking of the night. This meant she had more spankings in one night than she had in her entire life before then. This time she cried as if the world were ending. I hated putting her in her bed rather than comforting her after punishing her, but if I had cuddled her at the point, that would have totally defeated the purpose of the spanking since it would have gotten her out of bed.

I went back into my bedroom hating this. I told Brent that I am almost ready to give up and just go back to the crib. She did calm down, though, and stayed in her bed. I remembered that she didn't have a lightweight blanket on her bed so I went to get one for her. She was quiet and laying in her bed, so as I covered her up, I patted her back, gave her a kiss and told her that I was proud of her for obeying and staying in her bed like she was told. She finally fell asleep not too much later. But it was after 9 before that happened. Ugh!! And she has been getting up a little earlier since she has been sleeping in her new bed. I guess that is because she is able to get up and move around as soon as she is awake so she doesn't go back to sleep for another 30 minutes or so after she initially starts waking.

Last night was a little better...at least as far as getting to bed goes. We got a late start, though, so even though she only got up twice, it was still around 8:30 before she was falling asleep. The first time she got up, I saw her standing in her doorway and started to fuss at her, but then discovered that she had a poopy diaper that needed changing. OK, that is definitely a legitimate reason for getting out of bed. The second time, I thought she had already fallen asleep but then I heard her crying, so I went to check on her. She was laying on the floor by the gate crying. I couldn't figure out what was wrong so I took her into my room. I kinda think she wasn't completely awake when she moved there, so she didn't get in trouble for that, either. We figured out that she wasn't hurt, and Brent took her back to bed. She fell asleep shortly afterward.

At about 11 or so, she started screaming. I went to go check on her and she would not stop screaming at all. I could not comfort her. She did not accept her milk. She did not cuddle me, she did not calm when I tried singing to her or rocking her. Brent tried to calm her also, and that didn't work either. I think this was going on for about an hour. At first I thought it was a night terror. But do those last that long? I don't know. When she finally got calmer, still crying, but no longer screaming, we could tell that she was having a very hard time breathing. Her nose was incredibly stuffed up. I don't know if that is why she started crying to begin with or if that was a result of all the screaming, but I am sure that allergies at least contributed to it, because Brent was having trouble and couldn't use his C-PAP machine due to allergy stuffiness, and then I started getting the same thing around 2:30.

So we decided to keep her in our bed. I propped her up on a couple of pillows so that she might have an easier time breathing, and continued to pat her until she finally fell asleep. Of course, since she couldn't breathe through her nose, she didn't sleep well at all, and sort of woke up very frequently. And she moves around a lot in her sleep as well, so every time she moved out of that semi upright position breathing got even harder and she would start whimpering or crying again. Then I would move her back to being propped up on the pillows. I finally got to the point that I would wake up as soon as she moved, and was able to get her propped back up before she woke and started crying again. Unfortunately, that means that I really didn't get much sleep. And I know Brent didn't since he couldn't use his C-PAP.

I will be calling the doctor today to see if we can use Vick's Vapo Rub on Samantha even though she isn't 2 yet. I am crossing my fingers that the answer is yes. And hopefully tonight will be much more restful.