Ohhhhh, I remember you, SLEEP!

Would you believe I caught another cold last week?

Yep.

I guess that's this pregnancy's "thing"...poor immune system. I didn't have a choice but to face this cold in denial. I couldn't take off more work or ask for any more exceptions. Instead, I did my best to push through.

A brilliant approach (I thought), until I hit a massive wall on Thursday and just broke down. I felt HORRIBLE and not to mention, was on ZERO sleep. Avery's night time sleep has continued to spiral out of control and with her waking up every 2-3 hours, I had little chance of a quick recovery.

Sooooo, I decided to handle it as maturely as possible. I cried. And cried. And then called Ann and asked if I could come over and rest a little while she watched Avery. It was exactly what I needed! Ann always makes me feel like I'm never too old to be "taken care of" and in her presense, everything feels under control.

And even before I hit the wall, I made a decision earlier in the week to hire this "Sleep Expert" I've heard about for months. It took me 9.5 months to finally break down and relinquish some conttol. I praise all the mothers that have mastered the sleep training. For me, I needed some help.

Cyndi came on Saturday night and as excited as I was to sleep, it was tough to give the evening reins to someone else for the first time. And it was not an easy night. Despite earplugs and a smothering of covers, I could still hear her crying. Loud. There have been a few nights where I let her cry it out but I realized it was my inconsitency that always produced failure. She had two hours throughout the night of angered tears but ultimately slept till 7:40am.

And are you ready for this?? Cyndi came again last night buuuuut not one peep from Aves! She slept the entire night. I couldn't believe it. Maybe Cyndi sprinkled the crib with sleep dust - it worked. Regardless, Cyndi did a great job and I am so glad to have met her!

I now feel much more confident about how to approach Avery's crying at night (IF she gets up again). But more than anything, FORGOT how incredible it feels when you actually had a good night's sleep.

Overall, it was a blessing. It was good for Avery to be guided to sleep and good for me to let go of a little control.