Sunday, March 1, 2009

Not What I Had In Mind

So this has been a sleep-deprived week at the Joy household. I wrote about the ridiculous lack of sleep over the church retreat weekend, starting with Rose waking me at 4am Saturday with a tooth that had fallen out, then 20 straight hours awake partying at the retreat, then 2 1/2 hours of sleep and not much more than dozing the rest of Saturday night...

Catching up from that big deprivation wasn't going well. Joy did a lot of night wakings this past week, of the kind in which she wakes at 2:30 or 3am and starts enjoying herself in the crib, with loud comments. Sometimes she'll snooze again at 5am, sometimes she just stays awake. And then she doesn't nap! As you can imagine, the big people have a hard time sleeping through this too.

Finally on Friday night I had a good solid 8-hour night. It would have been longer (Joy slept till we woke her at 7am, eleven hours!) but I had bell practice all morning and we needed to get a week's worth of groceries before I left.

Oh, how I was hoping for a solid night last night, to consolidate my rest and make the world right!

But Rose came to my bedside at 2:30. "My tummy doesn't feel good." I staggered out of bed, gave her some simethicone, and sent her back to her room. Ten minutes later, she was back. "I threw up all over my bed," she reported.

Aughh. Got her moved onto the couch with a barf bucket, stripped her bed, started the laundry... and woke up Joy. Who didn't go back to sleep. But that was the least of the worries.

Rose, wide awake, wanted a video. So we curled up on the couch to watch, and she then started heaving at intervals of 10 or 15 minutes. I lost count of how many trips I made to dump the bucket.

Eventually she was tired enough to sleep, thought the barfing was done, go to bed Mommy, I'll stay on the couch. So I gratefully hauled back to bed, about 4am this was. Ten minutes later, she's at my side. She'd whoopsed again, and without my help she didn't get the bucket in time. So now I have another load of laundry to do, and I'm back out to the living room. To lie down on the floor, since Rose is now using the whole couch. She was so tired she actually did nap, but the ten-minute intervals continued, with me on duty listening for the gagging since she couldn't position the bucket in her sleep.

Finally JoyDad got up after 5 sometime. I put him on bucket duty and wearily crawled away to bed. I did get to "sleep in" at that point. And the last bucket, that I dumped just as he was getting up, was (wonder of wonders!) the last retch. He didn't have to oversee a single one. Lucky, lucky dude.

Despite a few hours of morning sleep, I don't feel much rested.

This was not what I had in mind.

UPDATE: Well, just when I get a good self-indulgent whine on, I read something that makes me count my blessings. Prayers for Nik and his mama over at Maternal Instincts. They're having a rough time right now, and sleep deprivation is just part of it.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ugh. Yarfing. I think JoyDad owes you a big one.

JoyDad said...

In my defense, I was awake quite a bit through the night too, between the interruptions from Rose and Joy. And while JoyMama did catch the brunt of Rose's hurling, I was on duty from 5:00 am or so until almost 10:00 am, which allowed JoyMama to get some sleep. So it was a team effort, as are most things around here...

Stat Mama said...

Uggh, vomiting sick is a nightmare. Hope you're feeling a bit rested, and that Rose is feeling better.

Anonymous said...

We all know TeamJoy is a well-oiled machine, JD. Dontcha hate it when siblings try to set the score? Worse yet, complete strangers trying to referee. hehe. (No cyber-darts, ratm, please!)

Praying Rose improves quickly and thoroughly and without anyone else taking up the bucket.

Scooting over to Niksplace to leave some comforting words. BRatK

mama edge said...

The first time I knew I was a real mom was when Rocky threw up and I caught it in my hands to save the carpeting. Me, the one who used to gag if someone even said the word "vomit" to me.

Can Joy take Melatonin? It's a synthetic version of a naturally occuring hormone that helps normalize our circadian rhythms. It's not contraindicated with any meds, is safe for kids and can be quite effective in sleep regulation.

Hope the barfies and nightowling end soon!

JoyMama said...

Mama Mara - yep, Joy can & does take melatonin. We've been workin' it since October. It does seem to help with bedtime, most of the time. The early-hours wakings, however, don't seem to be affected. Sigh.

Everyone - thanks for the sympathy! We had a houseful of sleeping Sunday night, and no more barfing. Here's hoping that it was something Rose ate (she did go to a birthday party Saturday) and not a tummy bug. Or, if it was a tummy bug, that some miracle occurs and I don't come down with it too...

Anonymous said...

So sorry for you and Joy and the rough night! Hope you get an uninterrupted night of sleep tonight! Mama Mara's comment has me cracking up.

Casdok said...

Hope you are able to catch up on your sleep and Rose is feeling better.

Sleep deprivation is hard.

Elizabeth Channel said...

Man, I feel for ya! We had about 9 days of this craziness. I finally caught up on all the laundry (and sleep.) I think...

Hope tonight is better!

Anonymous said...

oh no! i'm just catching up and hoping that everyone is feeling better!!!!

i love that rose tried to send you back to bed. bless her little heart!

Anonymous said...

I do hope that Rose is all recovered by now, and that no one else in the Joy household came down with anything at all. I have been there, done that on many occasions with my kids and it is not fun at all! We were away over the weekend or I would have responded to this sooner! I would like to invent a "bucket" that could sense the oncoming barf and automatically position itself to catch every bit!! With all of the amazing electronic and wireless gadgets around, it seems that this could easily be invented!!!
Be well!
AuntieS/ARatK
P.S. my word verification is "milphter" which sounds to me like a word that fits in with this theme, as in "Rose just milphted all over the couch!" LOL!

mama edge said...

Still sick?

datri said...

Way behind on blogs....hope everyone is feeling better and you've gotten some rest. Oh, I so know about the sleep deprivation thing. It did absolutely nothing for Kayla. I took one and it made me super drowsy the next day.