17 days old (Better than Christmas!)

I had nearly seven and a half hours' sleep last night! And it was spread over only two segments!

(Only parents can understand why this is such a treat that I feel like I've won Lotto)

Mind you, to get there we had to endure two days from something close to hell. Bubs just would NOT sleep for more than an hour or two at a time, and that meant I was getting about half an hour to an hour (tops) each time. After two days of this I was close to collapse, especially as I wasn't eating much either. Which meant my milk went sideways.. and the baby got crankier... and I slept less ...

If not for Robyn lending me a very nifty hand breastpump (fits me better than my electric one, thus gets much more out of me!), I'd have had the kid completely on the bottle by now and chucked breastfeeding as too damn difficult by far. Being able to express and then feed later saved my bacon on more than one occasion.

And to make life just that tad more *fun*, I've been doing all this solo.

Poor Wayne has been putting in 14 hour days (in blistering heat and/or blustery winds) catching up on urgent client jobs, and in fairness I couldn't ask much of him in the way of help. Oh, the occasional "Thank heavens you're home.. take this kid and change him while I run off and have a shower, please?" but that was about it.

Anyhoo, yesterday we had to disappear into Ashvegas to get some groceries, so it was Braeden's first car journey since coming home from the hospital. He didn't mind the trip down, and slept right through the supermarket experience, but coming home I had to sit in the back seat with him and jolly him into being a tiny bit more patient about letting us get home with eardrums intact.

That feed took from 6pm to 9.30pm (fairly quick actually), with him upchucking twice and showing every sign of being overtired and totally beside himself. (I wasn't far behind.. but you do an Academy Award-winning job of pretending you're chipper and in total control of the situation, eh).

Anyhoo, no position seemed to comfort him, so I put him on his tummy lying along my arm, with my hand supporting his butt, and my other hand rubbing his back.

Poof! The sobs stopped instantly, and within five minutes we had a snoring child.

This is where the sound/movement monitor saved my life (again).

Not wanting to wake the little darling (they're too damn cute when they're sleeping!) we put him to bed in exactly that position - belly down! Head turned to the side, resting on his forearm, but definitely belly down. Our antenatal instructor would pitch a purple fit if she only knew...

However the monitor went on, and this meant we could relax knowing that if baby stopped breathing, we'd be alerted within seconds.

Braeden slept the sleep of the innocent until 3.30 this morning, waking not with the usual roar and scream, but with a few grunts and mumbles and was happy to take the breast instead of punching me senseless in a tantrum (his usual gawd-awful-hour pattern).

He was full, burped and NOT sick within 40 minutes (!!!!), and was duly back in his bed sound asleep by 4.30, on his side this time. I, however, could not get back to sleep so easily, having been well trained in the knack of staying awake for baby for four hours at a time during the night. So I lay there watching the monitor blip, hearing husband snore, and giving the Horace the occasional boot with my toe when he made the entire bed shake (good grief that cat is getting fat!).

7.30 kidlet woke, again with grunts and mumbles, which escalated into full roar when his mother cruelly stopped for a toilet break and to make a cup of tea before changing and feeding him. We got another spectacular upchuck this morning (buggerit) but when again he failed to settle, I put him over my arm to soothe him and again, he was settled in moments and asleep within two minutes.

He is now sleeping soundly, (on his stomach), and I've had a shower, actually eaten a healthy breakfast, sent husband off to work (twice.. LOL), the washing's on and the dishes are left to think about themselves in the sinkful of hot soapy water.

I don't pretend to delude myself that we've cracked this, but I think we might be a tiny bit closer to understanding how to meet Braeden's needs. It seems he hates sleeping on his back, and this might have been why we've had so much upset over the last week or so. If I can get him to sleep better, keep his dinner down (helps if he's less stressed!), and if I can get some sleep and keep up with my necessary tasks, life seems more achievable.

Wish I could find the camera.. got some totally cute pix for you. Let's hope I can get online again tomorrow (!!?!!) and put them up.

Meanwhile, I'm off to catch up on all those urgent jobs while my sprog sleeps!

Two goodies to cackle over:

2nd Best Moment: On the scales this morning, discovering I am nearly a kilo lighter than my pre-preggie weight. Wahoo buckeroo!

1st Best Moment: Braeden gave me his first genuine grins and smiles yesterday (that cannot at all be discounted as 'mere wind'). He giggled and goggled at me for over a minute. Hot damn, this kid's a charmer! Smart too.. I was nearly in tears from exhaustion and frustration, then suddenly he turned on the smarm and every single **arggghhh** moment was suddenly all worth it, then some.