An AbiNormal Sleep Pattern

5/6/13 - Today Sheena couldn't tend Abigail because she was busy doing her own life stuff - She told me the week before she wouldn't be able to, but I had completely forgotten until I showed up at her house and she came running out reminding me that she couldn't tend that day! I hadn't  told anyone at work that I wouldn't be there today and couldn't just not show up, so, I brought Abigail to work with me. She was asleep so I knew it wouldn't be a big deal until she woke up, but I didn't figure that to be until 2nd hour anyway. 2nd hour is when I am in the classroom that she would be staying in, and it's a study hall so it wouldn't be interrupting any teachers. I did not, however, expect all the support I got throughout the day from the teachers, aides and students. First hour I dropped her off in this said room where my boss was teaching and explained to him that Sheena couldn't tend but I had forgotten and asked if I could leave her in there with him while I went to science. He did not have a problem with that at all and when 1st hour was over he said she didn't even make a peep. Halfway through second hour she woke up - which was when I was expecting her anyway - so I got her up and fed her. Third hour there was a substitute in English class so I asked the sub the assignments that were needed to be done for the day and brought my students back to the room where Abigail was and got to stay in there with her again - I didn't get to hold her at all though because all the other aides and some students wanted a turn - Abi didn't mind all the attention. 4th hour came and she was still wide awake - fussing a bit because she was tired, but was NOT about to fall asleep. Mrs. Maxwell, another teacher in the school, offered to hold on to her that whole period because it was her prep period. How cool is that? I mean, it's not something I could make an everyday thing, obviously, but the fact that I have a job so flexible and understanding enough to let me bring my fussy baby to school and be completely okay with it? That's pretty cool.

Well, like I said, Abi woke up at around 9:30 or 10am and didn't go back to sleep again until about 1:30 or 2. -- That's 5 hours. She not only just didn't sleep but she was fussy a lot of the time. We could get her calm some of it, but she was just exhausted and fighting sleep so badly. She eventually fell asleep, like I said around 1:30 or 2 and we went for a walk at 2:45pm - she was still asleep - she woke up again at about 3:45pm and didn't go back to sleep again until 10pm that night!! She only took one 2.5 - 3 hour nap ALL DAY.

5/7/13 - Today Abi woke up at 7am - I nursed her, but she didn't go back to sleep like she does sometimes. I had a feeling that she was going to fight sleep all morning for Sheena - I could hear it in her cry that she wasn't gonna be able to sleep, I was right. She stayed up from the time I dropped her off until around 1:30pm when we drove over to Cedar City. Sheena said she hadn't eaten much either - it took her two sittings to eat 4 oz which is normally one feeding for her.  She fell asleep in the car and slept for about an hour. (woke up about 2:30pm and she was furious). I fed her then, and then she was up again for a good while...a little bit more calm than she was before she ate, but something was still bugging her..probably exhaustion. When we were walking around campus she would 'sleep' in the stroller until I stopped walking, then she would wake up and scream again. If I got her out of her car seat she would calm down quite a bit, but still wouldn't sleep...I guess if she's not going to sleep I at least don't want her to be mad about it. So she was up hanging out with me - I just carried her around or held her whenever possible and she seemed to be okay with that. She was chill a lot of the time I was doing errands and what not, so I was okay with that also. She started to get fussy again around 7pm when I fed her one last go and put her back in her car seat to drive home. She slept for about 35 minutes of the 45 minutes left of the drive home then was up again until around 9pm when I nursed her and she fell asleep until about midnight. That's when I gave her her clonazepam, nursed her again and off to sleep she went. So today Abi slept a total of 2 hours all day again and this wasn't even consecutively..but she was a little less fussy today than yesterday.

5/8/13 - Last night Abi woke up twice to eat - one of which I expected (the midnight one that I talked about before) and then again at IDK what time but she didn't fall back asleep after eating. This isn't the first time this has happened. She pulls off like she is done eating and  ready to go back to sleep but then I put her down but she just screams until I get her back nursing again. She did eventually fall back asleep but not until about 7/7:20 this morning..she was still sleeping when I dropped her off at Sheena's house this morning, but then woke up at 9 and didn't go back to sleep. She wasn't screaming when I showed up but Sheena said she has about 30 minutes of a pretty big fit.  I brought her home and since she was calm and had just eaten we just partied for another hour or so. We went to the school for a little bit to visit her dad, then went to the neighbors house to look at some books...after a little bit of time spend there she started to get fussy again so I brought her home to feed her. By the time I started nursing she was SO MAD, she nursed for about 20 minutes then fell asleep - this was around 2;30pm -- she stayed asleep until 6:45 that night! that's a long nap! Makes sense though since she hadn't slept well the night before or all that day. That seems to be a recurring pattern with her where she will take only one nap during the day. Sometimes it is one longer nap, instead of lots of short little ones..abnormal for normal babies, but for us it's AbiNormal. Maybe she just isn't in a growth spurt right now and doesn't need as much sleep? Let's hope so right?
 
   I think I have noticed that on days where she is nursing all day long she can seem to find sleep easier than days that I pump and give it to her in a bottle. I don't know if its the comforting thing, or maybe she eats too fast from a bottle and it hurts her belly or what. But she had had some good sleeping days in the past and then the past two days she has reverted back to her not sleeping well and both of those day I gave her a bottle at one point in the day and at another point she finally fell asleep nursing. So IDK - I just like to have reasons for why she does what she does but I really think she's just AbiNormal and she's gonna do what she wants. There is no consistency with this little girl. What works one time won't work the very next time. Or she'll like something one day and the next day she'll scream bloody murder if you try again. For example swaddling - sometimes it calms her down - sometimes it makes her more angry. Sometimes she'll take her binky- sometimes she won't. Sometimes she likes her green binky - sometimes she likes her white one. Sometimes she'll take her medicine through a bottle nipple, sometimes she won't even pretend to notice the nipple is there. Sometimes she likes to be held to fall asleep, sometimes she likes to be put down to fall asleep. She likes to keep you on your toes at all times. I can handle it, it's like a game, "What's gonna make her happy this time?" haha silly girl. She's a doll.

Anyway, This is AbiNormal.