Brian's Weblog: The Nightlife

Tonight was the first night that Angela allowed me to take one of the late-night feedings off her hands so she can get some well earned sleep. She already did the 1am feeding, so when Ella started fussing at 4:30am, I hopped out of bed ready to roll...

I warmed up her bottle and started feeding her - she did great, drank it all down, burped, wee'd in her diaper, so I changed that, everything was great. But she wasn't looking at all sleepy. So I thought I would warm up some more milk for her, maybe she was still hungry...? Tried to feed her, not interested. Tried singing to her and rocking her...she started screaming (not that I blame her...have you heard me sing?). I tried swaddling her and giving her a pacifier...she squirmed around and started squawking and making monkey sounds. I tried laying her on my chest to relax her...she grabbed 2 tiny fistfuls of chest hair and yanked. HARD. It is now 6am and she is swinging in her wonderful, life-saving, best-gift-ever, automatic swinging device. Hiccuping. No sleepy for daddy.

As this minor episode unfolded, I could feel the acid building in the pit of my stomach as the frustration mounted deep inside of me. I can only imagine how Angela feels when trying to deal with this screaming little nutburger when she is alone, deprived of sleep and food, with sore nipples from having been chewed up only minutes before. It took all I had not to call Angela in and have her take over, because I had no idea what Ella could possibly want! In the end, however, I had made up my mind to deal with it on my own so Angela could get some sleep. Besides, in a month or so, a day or 2 a week it will be me and Ella alone while mommy is at work, so I better get used to dealing with it by myself!!!

Brucey goes home in a couple of hours, so no more sleep is imminent for me...but Ella is now sleeping, and I am going to post some more photos of the little princess/banshee.