babee tales

Yesterday, was a night of many firsts. The first time we were sleeping with Sam in our room, since the confinement lady left. The first time we left the kids to fall asleep on their own, instead of lying with them till they fell asleep. The first time Sam slept in the secure sleeper, placed between Gary and me. I think I slept a total of about 2-3 hrs, but I feel good this morning. I could easily have outsourced Sam's night time feeds to my maid but I have always believed in taking on this aspect on my own. It's all about sensing the baby, finding out what she wants, what makes her comfy, what irritates her, and all these can only be discovered when you keep her close to you. Sam woke up at about 1am, I latched her, then 3am, I gave her the bottle and nursed her a little, and finally she awoke again at 6am. Sitting there, nursing her in the darkness of the bedroom and listening to her rhythmic breathing and occasional grunts, I felt sleepy but blessed. Some time in the night, she did a poop as well, and I half considered changing her diapers in the dark but decided against it as it could prove to be a messy affair. Moving on to the secure sleeper, we first got introduced to it with nat, when one of Gary's colleague loaned it to us. I liked it, as did nat. With lucas, this stingy mum decided to rent the sleeper from one of the toy rental companies. Bad move, lucas had a habit of big time pooping at night and before we knew it, there were big poop stains on the sleeper mattress. Of course, we had to pay the penalty, which amounted to the cost of the sleeper. Sigh ... This time round, I bought the sleeper on a discount. After researching, I had found, to my delight, that there is a resale value for this item and I can easily sell it once Sam outgrows it. Overall, she seems to have slept well in it last night and I enjoy having her close and easily petting her to sleep, something that I can't do when she is placed inside the cot. I am sure Gary thinks I am secretly masochistic to have chosen the exact same night to ease our two older kids to sleep on their own. As expected, there was a lot of screaming and playing when we closed the door and Gary and I had to make several trips into the bedroom with stern voices calling for them to sleep. After a while, Lucas fell asleep and without anyone to chit chat with her, my baby girl also fell asleep. Success! Finally! What an eventful first night.