In His Own Room...

Last night was the first night Weston slept in his own room all night...let's face it, it was probably the first night he never slept a minute in my bed!  Ideally, I really wanted him to be sleeping in his own room before I went back to work (which is next week).  But truthfully, I never thought he'd get there.  Ever since he was born we have been keeping him in our room in the bassinet on the pack-n-play.  And like the hypocrite pediatrician that I am, he spent many hours in the bed next to me (something I was absolutely against before he was born).  It's like one wise Urology resident told me when I was in the hospital for one of my many procedures the past few weeks..."It's not that you want your new baby to sleep in your bed, but they wear you down so much that you can't get out of bed to get them the next time they cry" (in ten minutes).  And thus, Weston would fall asleep, I'd put him in his bassinet, an hour to 3 hours later he'd cry...I'd get up, change him, feed him, put him in the crook of Rolland's arm in hopes that he'd fall asleep by the time I finished pumping (that whole fiasco takes about an hour...and there's no guarantee that baby would actually be asleep enough to put him in his own bed without him waking and screaming). 

So, last night Weston was chillin' in his swing for a bit while I was doing a few chores and Rolland was relaxing for a few minutes after getting home at 9:00pm.  Rolland asked me, "when did he eat?", "seven-fifteen or so", I replied.  With that in mind I anticipated that he would wake up fussing at about 10:15 or 10:30, and I'd feed him, he'd fuss, and I'd attempt to get him to sleep in his bassinet for at least an hour.  Instead, I picked him up out of his swing thinking he'd wake up and Rolland would feed him...but this little guy was completely out!  I thought, what the heck...maybe I should put him in his crib in his room.  Before this I had only put him in his big crib for a few naps during the day.  So I ever-so-carefully carried him upstairs, set him in his crib, turned on his fan for white noise and rejoined Rolland.  After a few minutes we decided to just go to bed.  The bottle I had warmed up went back in the fridge and I got ready to go to sleep.  The baby monitor sat on the nightstand, volume turned up all the way so I wouldn't miss a peep. 

Weston's Nursery

I couldn't believe it when I woke up to little man's grunting at almost 1:00 in the morning (it had been 6 hours since he'd eaten! and two and a half since I had put him in the crib).  So I warmed that bottle back up, went to his room, fed him, changed him, and the thing he hates most...swaddled him in the Velcro swaddle wrap.  Then I held him for a few minutes until I saw those droopy eyes.  I laid him back in his bed and I sat in my super comfy nursery chair and waited for him to fuss and cry (this us usually what happens in our room that prompts me to pick him up and lay him in my own bed).  After a grunt or two he was totally quiet...so I went back to bed.  It was so nice to sleep without the bathroom light on and not have to worry about their being a baby in our bed.  Weston didn't wake up again until almost 5:00am, and again we repeated the same process, and it worked!  He slept again until 8:30 in the morning...leaving me time to wake up at 7:00, pump, shower, eat breakfast and fold towels from the dryer - Amazing!  Now I feel like an accomplished mom, and I'm taking my own pediatrician advice..."just put him in his own bed and let him fuss...reassure him when he cries if he's been feed and changed already".  I must say that every week in my clinic and never realized how hard it would actually be to do it when I got home from the hospital.  This was just one night, but hopefully the first one of many for Weston sleeping in his own bed in his own room...and I must admit, a quite restful night for me and daddy.