10 Long Hours

He did it.  He slept for 10 straight hours last night.  He was a bottomless pit all day yesterday, polishing off an entire slice of french toast for breakfast, a whole slice of pizza for lunch along with 1/4 of a breaded chicken breast and probably two full adult servings of butternut squash at dinner, in addition to other fruits, veggies and snacks throughout the day.  He ate graham crackers just before his bath at 7:30 and he drank 8 oz of whole milk at 7:45 as he was drifting off to dreamland.  It had been a busy day of playing with his big brother and building snow forts in the back yard, so we knew he was tired and we knew his belly was full.  Usually, he fusses a little when he's sleeping.  We'll hear him cry for 20 seconds and then he's quiet again.  Not last night.  We didn't hear a peep all night.  He was one tired little boy!    

I woke at 4:18 a.m. and did the math for how long he had been asleep -- 8.5 hours.  Then, I wracked my brain to try and remember if I had given him a bottle -- nope, I was sure that I had been in bed all night and hadn't sleep walked through a feeding.  Was he ok?  Should I go check on him?  Maybe I should go wake him and feed him...just in case?  I layed in bed awake for the next hour and fifteen minutes reciting the doctors words to myself over and over -- he can safely go for 10-12 hours without eating now, he'll be fine.  I fought the urge to go and wake him.  Trust.  Trust.  He's fine.  He's just sleeping. 

My husband's alarm went off at 5:30 a.m. and his first instinct was also to inquire about LB's night.  Did he really sleep all night?  Wait, how long has it been?  Do we need to go wake him up?  We did the math together and, realizing that it hadn't even been 10 hours yet, reassured ourselves together that he was fine.

Finally, at 5:55 a.m., he started to cry.  His cries are starting to be less crying and more calling out for me.  He was alternating between crying and yelling "ah-mah, ah-mah" (which I think is his way of asking for his mommy :-).  I went in and made him a 6 oz bottle of formula. It was probably the fastest, I've ever mixed up a bottle in my life.  As soon as the bottle hit his lips, he relaxed, sighed and settled back to sleep.  The bottle disappeared in an instant and he continued to sleep in my arms with his little head cradled against my shoulder.  It was a relief to know that he had eaten.  It was a relief to hold him in my arms.  This sleeping for 10 hours at a time thing is going to take some getting used to.

We would have woken him a little after 6:00 a.m., which is our usual work-day routine, but he woke up a little before that.  Even so, I think sleeping from 7:45 to 5:55 counts as sleeping through the night.  His first full night of sleep!