Sunday 5 August 2012

Sleep Deprivation

It's been a while since I posted and thats due to one reason...sleep deprivation! Our boys are doing so well in so many ways but they just can't grasp the concept of sleeping without the need for our help in settling them every two hours. After months of getting just 3/4 hours broken sleep a night, we finally gave in and have enlisted the help of night nannies. It was a desperate move so Matthew could function at work and I could stop crying! We hope and pray every night that they sleep but each morning the night nanny comes down to our pull out day bed looking utterly exhausted and tells us of the amount of times they woke during the night. We often dont need her to tell us as despite ear plugs, we still hear the monkeys shouting at the top of their voices. We end up getting so anxious at night time as we know we're in for a long and painful night! One day boys you will sleep and that will be a very very happy day!

A quick update:

Boys are off Oxygen completely!!! We did our last sleep study and can now see our boys beautiful faces all day (and night!). They're smiling so much and developing so well every day now. Unfortunately the good times lasted a few days when Xander developed bronchiolitis. He was coughing and wheezing so much and after two trips to the GP they decided the best thing to do was to get him to A&E asap. I drove him to hospital totally gutted and of course in tears that we were going back. We were seen straight away (having a prem baby is like being a VIP!) and they monitored his O2 levels which were thank God fine. They gave us an inhaler to give him and told us to keep an eye on his feeding and breathing.  He took about a week to get better and finally started smiling again - poor Joeby got it straight after and he was sick for the next week.

The boys are now better and we're focussing on helping them to learn to sleep as much as possible. It's really quite extraordinary how despite being in exactly the same routine in the day, they take it in turns to wake in the night meaning we get about an hours sleep at a time. Once you're awake and have settled one, you know it wont be long until the next one wakes and the pressure to get that precious bit of sleep is just immense and you end up tossing and turning and staying awake as a result! We're both finding it just so difficult and end up so desperately tired every day feeling sick, swaying and just not being able to function as we've not slept properly for such a long time now. We have a sleep training expert on board now giving us advice and she explained that as the boys were prodded and poked and have gone through so much in terms of reflux, oxygen tubes, constipation, colic, bronchiolitis etc it's no wonder they havent had a chance to develop their ability to self settle and sleep. We're now in sleep training and hope that they will soon learn to settle themselves so we can start to feel better and a little happier! We've got to 7am before and been so cross, frustrated and so upset...then we look down at the boys and they give us their biggest smiles. Our hearts melt and we're geared up to try again...saved from ebay one more time!

Joeby was doing so well - it was Xander that was the problem but in the last couple of days it's Joey who's been waking. He's been putting his hands in his mouth, dribbling and had pink cheeks yesterday...the dreaded teething!!!! According to our sleep training expert she says he should still be able to self settle through the discomfort...keeping everything crossed! We cant afford to pay for the night nurses to too much longer so something has to change!

They're both fully weaned now so they're getting plenty of food and milk in the day...come on boys, give us a break and SLEEP!!!!

Inbetween the awful, sleepless nights the boys are smiling so much and at nearly 4 months old (7 months) they're doing just so well. We spend a lot of time in the house as it's a mission to get them fed, cleaned clothed and ready to go out but we go for a walk in the afternoon every day just to get some fresh air and to remember that there is life outside the living room! We've come so far already and as soon as we can get this sleep problem resolved then life will be easier....I hope! Pic of our beautiful boys, love their little smiles so much xxx






















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