Tuesday, August 08, 2006

Difficulty Sleeping

Yesterday (Monday 8/7/6), we went over to Dallas to Celebration Restaurant and met up with Brigette and Jason. Alex has a great time when we get together with them, though he still seems a bit confused and occasionally calls Jason, "Aunt Brigette".

Alex is still feeling under-the-weather, and for the past couple of nights has experienced confusional arousals, which are an interruption in his normal sleep patterns similar to night terrors. He's not actually awake, though he sits up and calls for Mommie and Daddy and has tears streaming down his cheeks. He also speaks a lot of gibberish during the episodes and seems as if he's in distress even though he's not. It's difficult to watch, but experts suggest that you not try to wake the child or cuddle them, because they're actually in a stage of sleep between sleep cycles and disturbing them can actually prolong the episode. Alex has had these before, and they generally last about ten minutes, as did the first one last night. Pete said that there was a second episode, but it occurred after I went to bed, and he reported that it only lasted a couple of minutes. I'm anxious for Alex to start feeling better, as I'm certain that the sleep problems are triggered by his illness.

Teagan is still into her habits of getting up three or four times per night, which is wearing me out. When Alex was this age, if I heard him wake up in the night, I would wait 15 or 20 minutes before getting up to check on him so that I would know for sure if he was really awake, or if he was just at a wakeful moment in his sleep. I find myself getting up immediately with Teagan because of concerns that her crying will wake Alex, and if he gets up in the middle of the night, then we have two children up and crying and Pete would have to get up, too. Which would mean that not only is my night's rest getting sacrificed, but Pete's as well, and he has to get up and go to work in the morning. I on the other hand, just work 24 hours a day. (*wink*)

BONUS VIDEOS:
Alex goes swinging
Teagan goes swinging
What happened to Baby Geico?

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