Being Momma G: Day 24

Fussy and horrible would be an understatement of what Sean put us through earlier this morning.

When Sean woke at 2.30am for a feed, I thought he would settle down straight away and sleep through till 6am. At least, I had hoped he would. Sean fell asleep and fell away from the boob all by himself at the end of the feed, and he did settle down for a few minutes, but when he woke at 3am, he stayed awake. And he let us know about it too.

I tried to let Jonathan sleep, so I took Sean to the living room and tried to settle him by myself. By 5.15am, I had run out of ideas and patience, so I popped Sean on for another feed in hope that he would have a drink and then fall asleep. I was so tired that I could only feed on one side and didn't bother to complete the job. By this point, Jonathan was awake and he took over, while I somehow made it back to the bedroom and fell dead into bed.

After 4 hours of straight screaming and crying, Sean finally fell asleep around 6.30am. It was too late for Jonathan to return to sleep, so he stayed up until it was time for him to go to work. Whereas Jonathan could have caught the 7am bus to go to work, he stayed until just before 9am to make sure Sean was fast asleep and to allow me a few hours of peace.

I was so exhausted that I couldn't get warm while I was in bed. My knees felt ice cold and before Jonathan left for work, I asked him to check my knees, which were warm to his touch. Jonathan covered me with the sheets from his side of the bed while I shivered, and I went back to sleep for a little while longer.

I dragged myself out of bed at around 9.15am, mainly because I needed to use the bathroom. I felt so guilty that Jonathan was going to work again with not enough sleep, and so grateful that I have such a wonderful husband who sacrificed his own sleep to make sure I got a break from a screaming baby. I called him to thank him and found that he was sitting at the bus stop waiting for a bus. I offered to drive him to work, but Jonathan declined and wished me a better day than the early morning had been.

When Sean woke at 9.40am for his next feed, I had a little talk and a little cry with our little man, telling him how unfair he was keeping both his parents awake till all hours, and how nasty we found his continued screaming and crying. Poor little man - only 3 weeks old and already getting a stern talking to. After the feed, Sean behaved and went straight back to sleep.

We weren't so successful with the next feed at 2pm. After the feed, Sean decided he wanted to stay awake, and no amount of soothing could get him to sleep. Hours later, at 5.10pm, the little man finally went to sleep.

While Sean was sleeping between the morning and afternoon feeds, my Facebook status attracted some attention. In particular, my lovely friend Jules wrote me an email to offer her Miracle Blanket for us to trial and see if it will help settle Sean. Since Jonathan and I have pretty tried everything else, I gladly accepted the offer. Seriously, what have we got to lose?

Jonathan walked in through the front door just before 6pm, a lot earlier than I'd expected. Sean woke around 6.45pm, and Jonathan gave him a bath while I started preparing our dinner. By the time Jonathan and Sean were finished with bath time, dinner was in the oven and I was ready to feed Sean. As if he had something to prove, Sean didn't fuss after the feed and settled well, so that Jonathan and I could enjoy our gorgeous roast dinner in peace.

Jules swung by with the Miracle Blanket and we traded horror stories about unsettled babies. Jules' little boy Thomas was a very unsettled baby, so Jules could definitely sympathise with our current situation. It was so good to see Jules and we are so grateful to be able to borrow the blanket from her. We are so blessed to have such good friends.

The little man should be waking up any minute now for his next feed, and we will be sure to try out this blanket tonight. Here's hoping the blanket lives up to its name and we enjoy the miracle of a few hours of much needed sleep tonight.