Being Momma G: Day 43

Breaking news. At 7.20pm, our 6 week old baby put himself to sleep. Yes, he managed to settle himself and fall asleep in his bassinet, without either of us patting him, or shushing Jingle Bells, or rocking the bassinet. No help needed. Sean did it all by himself.

Yay!

OK, so he needed a little bit of help about 30 minutes later to resettle, mainly because he got a little bit hot (our bedroom was a little bit stuffy), but Sean did most of the work by himself.

Sean is really quite a gorgeous baby when he's not all red faced from screaming his little head off.

After Sean went to sleep at around 11pm last night, he looked a picture of perfect innocence. And he stayed that way until 2.30am when he woke up for a feed. Everyone was tired, so we all fell asleep during the feed. I tried to stay awake, but alas, there was only so much I could do to keep my eyes opened. At some point, we gave up feeding and I put the little man back into his bassinet.

When Sean woke at 5am, I really wasn't in the mood to breast feed. My back was aching, my stomach was aching, and I was generally aching all over. I soldiered on and fed Sean, before handing him over to Jonathan for cuddles. As I fell asleep, I worked out why I was aching - I was hungry. Really hungry. Starvin' Marvin hungry. But sleep was more important, so I slept instead of going in search of food.

The 9am feed was easier. I was more prepared to get out of bed and feed Sean after a little bit of sleep. Jonathan and I woke at around 8.30am and mapped out a plan of attack - I was to have a shower and wash my hair while Jonathan continued to have cuddles with Sean, and then I was to feed Sean while Jonathan had his shower. By the time Sean was finished with his breakfast, I was to get dressed, while Jonathan dressed Sean, so we could head off for my dental appointment and grocery shopping.

Sean was quite good in the car - he fell asleep all by himself, and slept all the way through my appointment with Dr Lee. In fact, Sean was so good with the sleeping that we even managed to have lunch, and do some shopping in K-Mart, as well as wander through 3 other shops to get other bits and pieces.

The only thing left to do was the grocery shopping, and as per every other grocery shopping trip, Sean woke up within 10 minutes of us entering Coles. Sean was more or less due for a feed, but as we needed to continue grocery shopping, we decided to delay the feed until we got home. Sean started his whinging with good humour, but by the time we left the supermarket, he was almost inconsolable. By the time we got home, it was 2 and a half hours past Sean's feeding time and he was beside himself with hunger.

As per all previous outings, this one wore Sean out, so he slept after the feed. Just before 6pm, the little man woke and wanted more milk, and when it came time to sleep, Sean worked out that he was in his bassinet, he was all wrapped up in his muslin blanket, and that meant he should be sleeping. Good boy! Jonathan and I were so proud of him, and surprised Sean worked it out that we did a little jig in the lounge room and high-fived and hugged each other.

The 8.30pm feed was an entirely different kettle of fish. Jonathan and I were trying to have our dinner, but the little guy was hungry, so he needed to be fed first, while Jonathan hoovered down his dinner. After I finished feeding him, Jonathan tried to nurse Sean to sleep while I inhaled my dinner. After nearly an hour of trying to settle Sean, the little man's eyes were still wide opened and refusing to shut, even though he was beyond tired, so Jonathan passed Sean to me to see if I could weave my magic and get Sean to sleep.

I tried all the tricks in my bag, but as soon as I thought the little guy was settled, his eyes would spring open again. Sean really fought against sleep, and was winning.

45 minutes later, I needed to go to the bathroom quite urgently, so Jonathan took over again. Within 10 minutes, Sean finally fell asleep. It only took 2.5 hours from the start of the feed to when Sean's eyes finally closed and stayed closed.

I'm falling asleep sitting on the couch - I've just tried to watch Die Hard 4.0 and I'm nodding off. So I'm going to go to bed, for I know the milk monster will want more milk soon.