It has been a crazy busy couple of weeks. I was having abdominal pain and found that I needed my gallbladder removed...about 2 weeks before Fall Qtr starts! Good thing the recovery is only a week...doing much better now. I am having a hard time adjusting to the fact that I have to completely re-work my eating habits (low-fat EVERYTHING) or I still have some issues, but nothing like before.
Then there was the mix-up with my financial at my local Community College. What joy that has been...getting it all worked out, thank god, but it can be a bit stressful.
However, the thing that is really bothering me is that my children have started waking up in the middle of the night from so-called "night terrors." I am, of course, somewhat familiar with the term and what it involves so I was a bit frightened when the doctor told me that is what it sounds like. Here is the low-down: 4-5 days ago my twins woke up screaming about 2 hours or so (give or take 30 minutes) after I put them to sleep. At first they are completely inconsolable. They don't want a bottle (unfortunately I haven't weaned them off bottles at night yet), they don't care for a snack, ibuprofen (at first I thought it was teething pain?), to be changed. All they want is for me to hold them. My son is always more upset. He seems to recognize me and, ironically enough, me is exactly what he wants. He wants to lay on me and just be held. If I try to put him back into his bed he will scream until he passes out. This is my least favorite option as I feel so cruel whenever I do it. But I don't know how else to deal with it. I am concerned that what is going on isn't true night terrors...from what I have heard night terrors seem far more...intense. My foster sister had them when she was a child and according to her mom...it was horrible. From my understanding, far worse than what my little ones are going through.
So I did some research. I found another time of 'nocturnal disturbance' called confusional arousal. I guess this is similar to night terrors but far easier to deal with. But one thing that gets me....80% of the time my children seem to recognize me and understand what is going on. When I ask my sone if he wants to go see "DaDa"..he whines a bit and doesn't want ANYTHING to do with him.
To me, this doesn't sound like traditional night terrors. I am wondering if this is all a side-effect of stress. With me having surgery..I wasn't able to hold them (too wiggly) and that really upset them. There were also people here taking care of them that they aren't used to. But the doctor told me to wake them up just before they usually have one of these episodes, and when I did that, there was no problem with screaming later that night. It is odd. I am not sure what to think. If gently waking them up does the trick, then I will definitely keep up with it. I just hope we can overcome this because it's heartwrenching to see your child inconsolable.
Although on a positive note, I now have a brand new nephew. He is a beautiful little guy, and so calm! He only cried when he was changed or rewrapped in his blankets. My sister (the mommy) did an amazing job. I guess she went into labor at 4:00 am. And because she lives across the street from the hospital, she waited until about 12-1 pm to be admitted. Little man was born at 2:30!...She didn't even get an epidural, she was 8 cm. dialated when she arrived. I am proud of her to be sure.
