Could I Possibly Be Doing Something Right?

It seems impossible, but our gradual weaning of parental presence at bedtime might have been successful. For three nights now, Quinn has not cried or gotten up after we closed the door at night. This is huge! It's taken us months to get to this point. Last night was not really a success story, however. Quinn did not nap yesterday, unless you count falling asleep in the car on the way to lunch. The decision to wake him up might have been a mistake. He started acting up pretty bad later in the evening, but we had agreed to go to a small group meeting with some people from our church at seven. So I finally decided to pop a couple Tylenol, force him into his socks and shoes, and throw him in the car with his blanket. After 20 minutes of "NO," he finally settled down and played with the other kids there. However, it was a pretty late night, and we didn't get out of there until almost 10 p.m. Of course, despite his rambunctious behavior at the Beattys' house, he passed out almost as soon as we got in the car.

It was no problem to get him changed and into bed without waking him. After a trip back downstairs to collect his "arsenal" of bed buddies, I thought the night was over. I was so wrong. An hour and a half later, Quinn wakes up screaming. I expected to find him banging on the door, or at least sitting up in bed. Instead, he was still lying down under the covers, with his eyes closed. Oh, and screaming. Did I mention that? Though I hadn't seen one before, I just knew this was a night terror. I've read about them because whenever I mention that he has been waking up crying at night, they say that it might be night terrors. Let me just say that you can wonder if you've experienced a night terror until you do, and then you know for a fact that that's what it is. I had read not to wake up a child having a night terror, so I just sat next to him, shushed him, and tried to comfort him quietly. He was tossing and turning, crying, and screaming "No" over and over. Break my heart! I managed to hold it together until he started screaming "Mama! Mama!" I started crying and talking to him, telling him I was there, everything was okay. Finally I ran downstairs and searched "night terrors" on the Internet. It said absolutely not to wake them, to not even talk to them or touch them. Just stay with them and make sure they don't hurt themselves. The article I read said they can take up to a half an hour to end, and Quinn's was pretty close to that. Finally, he settled down to a whimper and then fell back into a deep sleep. I was heart-broken listening to that and not being able to help. Evidently they are more common when kids are sleep-deprived, so I'm guessing the lack of nap combined with staying up late contributed. Hopefully that won't happen again. I don't know if I can take it! Well, it's late, and you've heard our drama for the past day or so. Let me just leave you with the news that Maddie is kicking up a storm and making me so happy every time I feel her. Can't wait to see her in next week's ultrasound. Love, Us.