Much better...

I've had several comforting emails this morning and want to happily report that we had a good night's sleep! Once again, ND was wide awake at bedtime and every time we got her to sleep and put her down she awoke and cried again. So I finally resorted to something I did weeks ago... I wrapped her in a swaddling blanket. She's outgrown all of her old ones, but thankfully we just received a brand new, bigger one. Then I laid down on my left side so I was facing the middle instead of the edge of the bed, and held her tightly next to me, her back to my chest, so we were both facing the same direction. I think did a steady rythmn of "shh" noises to replicate the womb until she calmed down. Finally I just started deliberately breathing as though I was asleep, though louder, so she'd get the hint. It worked beautifully. I awoke again a few hours later, put her into the car seat next to the bed, and went back to sleep. I only woke up once more after that when I heard her stirring around a little. Rather than worry about whether or not she was waking up, and listening to those little noises for the next hour or two, I just pulled her out, nursed with her, and put her back without her hardly even waking up. She was good then until 7:30!

A lot of new moms need to be able to sleep in and lounge around a bit, but I know myself well enough to know that makes me feel a lot worse (which is what I've been doing). I think that even when I'm tired, it's more important to get up earlier and face the day a little, even if that means returning to bed for long periods later on.

OK. We're off. Meeting with someone today. Very exciting!