The evolution of the youngest C's sleeping patterns

Despite that winded title, there really has been no "evolution," but you know? It feels good to put it like that. Almost as if we are moving forward on that wild journey toward sleeping through the night, even if just in my imagination. 

So when we were in the hospital, I basically nursed Kota for the entire first night she was with us. I was just so scared to go to sleep because of her teensy-tiny-ness! Who knew what could happen to babies under 7 pounds throughout an entire night! It was like the wild wild West in that there room, what with all the uncharted territory we were navigating through! Carter only woke up twice during his first night, Kota cried the entire time. It was nuts!

Anyway, for the first six weeks, of course she woke up two or three times a night, but then {I will never forget}, she slept a consecutive 10 hours right on her six-week-old birthday night! Yes! That happened! It was so awesome. I chalked it up to the my-goodness-there-has-yet-to-be-an-unruly-sleeper-in-this-household board and gave myself a big, fat, cocky slap on the back. Lending to my we-so-have-this-two-kid-thing-under-control 'tude, she stayed sleeping through the night for a blessed six more weeks from that day, and then sickness hit.

Yes, poor baby contracted bronchiolitis, so when she started waking up during those nights, it was quite welcomed. At least her airways were open, you know? But those previous six weeks was the last time this lady has slept through the night. Oh, the under-appreciation! The cockiness! Come on, Nicole! You should know by now that any time you're feeling pompous, the subject of said pomposity always comes around and slaps you in the face!

So at that point, baby girl was 3 months old, and now at 6.5 months, it's actually become more and more frequent. First it was once a night, then around 4 months it turned into twice, both of which were totally doable thanks to a nifty caffeine boost I added to my afternoons. People {well, Chadly} started to ask if I shouldn't just start formula so we can all get some gosh darn rest, but because of my upping the coffee dose, I felt like we should just keep trekking on. No need to fix something if it ain't broke, was what I was thinking. 

But THEN, this last Sunday hit. During the day we took this long excursion down to San Diego for some shopping, so we {I} sort of just threw her solid foods schedule to the wind, thinking that one day of just breast feeding should be fine, because after all, she's only been on solids for a few weeks now, anyway. Holy moly. 

I. WAS. WRONG.

That night, that wretched night, we woke up every HOUR AND A HALF!

Every hour and a half!

Can you believe it?!

I couldn't! 

At 5 AM I figured out it was because I was too lackadaisical with her eating that day, so of course she was going to wake up like a madwoman! At work on Monday passing out right there in the middle of class sounded pretty darn awesome, as long as I would be able to lie down on the eventual stretcher they would provide for me so I could get some sleep.

Then the next night she woke up three times! THREE TIMES! What the heck?! 

Anyway, bottom line is this: I'm ready to start incorporating formula. I'll still be nursing, but if we go somewhere I'm now fine with using it. I want her to pack on some weight for the sake of a better night's sleep and {did I mention?} my pump broke. Yeah, it broke. And I didn't get the warranty this time around because I bought it at Target instead of Babies-R-Us.

I know all the plusses and minus's to breast feeding most the time but adding a formula bottle here and there, but you know what? I'm just going to see how it goes and make decisions from there. I know it can affect the fat content of the milk and whatnot, but hey! It will all be fine, and we will all be happy in the end.

I think the real bottom line to this entire post was how disjointed it was. First we were talking about sleeping through the night, then it turned into a breast feeding manifesto and now it's about my pump breaking, therefore conveniently making me feel good about formula, even though I truly feel 100% fine with it. I hit my goal and I'm not stopping completely so cheers all around. In fact, I'll still be nursing her 99% of the time, it's just that when I go to work she'll be taking formula. Okay, now I'm just rambling.

But really quick, yesterday was her first official formula bottle which my mom gave her while I got my hair done, and it honestly freed me. I felt good because I knew that there was absolutely no chance of her running out of the goods, even though there was no way she would need more than one bottle while I was away. 

So that's my deal. If you made it to the bottom of this post then you are one awesome person.