The hardest thing about co-sleeping has been trying to get myself ready for bed before Natalie starts screaming because she’s so sleepy. Usually I’m rushing to brush my teeth while Chris has the unfortunate job of trying to distract her from crying. Lately, I’ve been able to put her to bed and sneak away, so you’d think this would no longer be a problem.
But, alas, Natalie seems to wake up each night as we’re getting ready for bed. And poor Chris has to hold her while she screams and I rush to get myself ready. Chris tries hard to comfort her, but nothing works—she just needs to nurse. Or so we thought…
Last night, while I was furiously brushing my teeth while trying to take my contacts out at the same time, I realized Natalie wasn’t crying. I went in our bedroom to find Natalie asleep on Chris’ lap in the rocking chair. Now I know that rocking a baby to sleep in a rocking chair may not seem shocking to most people, but Natalie has never taken to being rocked. So when I saw this, my jaw nearly hit the floor!
It was such a sweet sight, I wished I had a camera handy. I was so glad Chris got to experience the serenity of having a sleeping baby on your lap, something he hasn’t experienced since Natalie was a wee one.
Even more shocking, he actually was able to put Natalie in her crib and she stayed asleep!!! Hooray for Dad!
Apparently vimeo.com is having some technical difficulty. That’ll teach me to post something before I’m sure it’s working!!! I’ll re-post the video when I get it figured out.
We had a little scare last Thursday, and I’ve been hesitant to blog about it until I was sure that it really was just a scare and not a real problem. I’m pretty sure it’s safe now.
So last Thursday Nama was watching Natalie while I was at work. At 4:30 the I got a call from my Mom on the office phone. I knew immediately that something was wrong, since she wasn’t calling my cell phone and I was due home at 5 pm. Mom’s voice sounded panicky as she explained that she took Natalie for a walk in the stroller and at some point realized that Natalie had gotten ahold of some leaves and was sucking on them. Mom (already quite upset at the idea that Natalie could have choked on the leaves) showed them to Smoky, who thought they were poison ivy! Prone to panic myself, I screamed, “oh my god!” causing a bit of panic in the office.
Needless to say, I rushed home immediately, calling the pediatrician on my cell phone as I drove. The nurse who answered advised me to call poison control. The operator who answered the poison control hotline spoke to a toxicologist/pediatrician, who informed us that it’s impossible to have an allergic reaction to something the first time the body is exposed to it. So if indeed the leaves were poison ivy, Natalie would not have a reaction until the next time she was exposed to the allergen. Phew! They did say to watch her closely, just in case.
We gave Natalie a bath to wash off any oils that may have been on her so nobody else would get infected (both my Mom and I are extremely allergic to poison ivy). Nama calmed down a little at this point, but still felt terrible about the whole affair. I tried to reassure her that Natalie was fine, that it could have just as easily happened to anyone, etc.
But just as many people reassured me that I shouldn’t beat myself up when Natalie fell, those words are little comfort to my Mom, who’s called every day since Thursday to check on her. Funny how easy it is from the outside to be calm about a situation, but you’re the one who was responsible for a child’s care when scares happen, it’s very unnerving. Just as I’ve forgiven myself for Natalie’s fall, I’m sure Nama will recover from this scare as well.
Natalie is indeed perfectly fine, and probably never knew that anything was wrong at all. Whether the leaves were in fact poison ivy is still being debated. To Natalie, Thursday wasn’t scary at all, just a fun day with Nama that included a nice walk and a refreshing bath!