Who Needs Sleep? Part 2

Click here for Part 1 of the "Who Needs Sleep?" saga.

For the rest of the Week of No Sleep, my wife and I took turns trying to get the Bear to fall back asleep quickly and efficiently. But each time we put her back in crib, she would immediately start wailing. When it was my turn, I could get her back to sleep holding her in my arms (with her head resting on my shoulder ohmygodcutestthingever). But every time I went to put her back in her crib, I swear she started crying when I even thought about it. Like she knew. Like she took pleasure in robbing me of precious rest. 

We tried everything to get her back to sleep. My wife tried laying on the floor next to the Bear's crib. Didn't work. I tried speaking to the Bear in a firm, fatherly voice: "It is not wakey time, it is sleepy time." Didn't work. My wife tried rubbing the Bear's back and singing to her. Didn't work. We tried letting her cry it out. Didn't work. We tried giving her a bottle. Didn't work. Still, every time we briefly got her back to sleep, tried to put her in her crib, and left her room, she'd start crying again.

Sure, either one of us could've slept in the guest bed with her every night. But I'm terrified I'll roll over on her and my wife never really gets to back to sleep when she does that. We were out of options and felt we'd reached the end. Part of us came to grips with the fact that we might never sleep again.

Each night the Bear awoke with no provocation, my wife and I grew increasingly more frustrated and tired. We started to snap at each other and searched for things to blame the Bear's sleeplessness on. And each day following a relatively sleepless night, we walked the earth like zombies. There wasn't enough coffee in the world to energize us the way a full night's rest can. Well, I take that back. There is; the sweet spot is about six cups a day. I also had to pee like every thirty minutes and my hands wouldn't stop shaking. Not even a coffee IV would give me the energy I needed. Yet, the whole week, the Bear walked around, played, and ate during the day like she'd just woken up from a winter-long hibernation. Here's a sampling:

"Sleep? Sleep is for suckers. I'll be right her--wide awake!--if you need me."

Apparently, kiwi, watermelon, and puffs are anti-drowsy foods.

"I'm never sleeping again dad!!!"

On Friday night, we finally came up with the perfect solution: let's have the Bear sleep somewhere else. Maybe a different room, perhaps? A change of scenery might help her. No, that wouldn't do; we needed to do something more drastic. We decided on the perfect place that would guarantee a sleep-filled night for the Bear and a restful night for us. We sent the Bear to a different house. In a different state.

That's not as bad as it sounds. My wife and I had tickets to the Zac Brown Band concert Friday night, so my mother-in-law (known affectionately as Granny) had planned to watch the Bear that night and keep her overnight at her house in New Jersey. She agreed to that before Sleepageddon started. Oh well, a promise is a promise, Granny.

Emotions were mixed as I dropped the Bear off at Granny's. Yes, we'd get to sleep that night. The promise of that was gratifying and overwhelming. But it would also be the first time we'd ever spent the night away from the Bear. That was overwhelming for an entirely different reason. It was very tough leaving her for the night, but we went to the show and had a great time:

<3 you Zac Brown.

We look awake and alert. Not true. Not true at all.

The Bear had fun at Granny's, as she always does. But she awoke at 1:00 am on the dot and Granny got a one-night glimpse into our sleepless lives.

Do I feel bad about passing the Bear's sleeping problem off on Granny? Absolutely. No one deserves the frustration we were experiencing. But we also slept a full night's sleep and woke up rested and clear-headed for the first time in a week. That pretty much washed away any guilt we'd been feeling. I suppose we do owe Granny one, though.

Then Saturday night came. We put the Bear to bed at her usual time. As my wife and I put our heads to the pillow later on, we were both expecting to be woken up in a few hours to repeat the process we'd been going through all week.

We did awake a few hours later. But it was to clear rays of sunshine streaming through our bedroom windows, not the screams of a frantic toddler. I looked at the clock. It read 6:04. That couldn't be right.

Did the Bear sleep through the night? The bedside clock must've been broken. Something could've caused the clock to jump ahead five hours. I checked my iPhone. It also said 6:04. 

Was it possible? Did the Bear finally sleep through the night again? I think she did. It was a Summer Miracle! Halle-freaking-lujah. 

Sunday night was another sleep-filled night. So was Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and last night. With no explanation or any clear reason, the Bear simply returned to her sleep-all-night ritual.

My wife and I tried to come up with an explanation for why the Bear was waking up at the same time every night last week, especially since it was out of character for her to wake up in the middle of the night. We wanted a reason for why she was getting up, but there didn't seem to be a logical one. She wasn't teething (she already got her molars in last week and slept fine during that). She wasn't hungry. She wasn't sick or didn't have a fever. We don't think she was going through a growth spurt.

Finally, we came up with the only possible explanation. She wanted to be near us and be reassured that we were protecting her during the night. Imagine waking up in a dark room by yourself, looking for the one thing that will put you at ease in your drowsy disorientation: the people you depend on the most. Yeah, I'd cry too. The Bear just wanted to know we were there and she cried when we weren't. She was showing us hysterically screaming that she needs us. And you know what? I'd gladly trade a few sleepless nights for that kind of love. Plus, even when I'm dead tired, how can I not be happy when I get to spend every day with this pretty little lady?