Specifically, it was last night that really got me thinking, "Wow, I should be blogging about this". Here's the back story: Laurel just turned 5 months old on Monday, and she was starting to worry me a little bit because she hadn't yet started rolling over. Now I know, everyone says, "Every baby is different, and you shouldn't compare your baby to another, they all develop at their own rate." And I know Laurel is developing fine, but I know close to ten women who all had babies within one month of me having Laurel, and it's hard to see their babies rolling over independently and what proud momma wouldn't want to brag about that? So part of me was beginning to think, Ok Laurel is just NOT going to ever roll over, she'll just magically start crawling one day...pshhtt yeah, right. Also my pediatrician said not to place too much emphasis on the roll, she said some babies don't like the spinning sensation and therefore don't roll like most babies (anyone ever had a pediatrician tell you that?) She reassured us at Laurel's 4 month appointment that things like sitting up, reaching for items, and transferring items from hand to hand were more reliable milestones.
Let's jump ahead to this week. Laurel has not slept through the night since Tuesday. Today is Saturday, and in my world that feels like eternity! Up until this week she had been sleeping great through the night, not necessarily EVERY night, but most nights she would sleep for at least 6 hours before needing a pacifier replaced and then would go back to sleep right away. **I also can't stand (probably out of a combination of jealousy and utter disbelief) those moms who write about how their 1 month old is sleeping 12 hours straight - ugh. Come on, either you're full of it, or keep your good fortune to yourself because you're making the rest of us feel like failures** Wednesday and Thursday nights she was up almost every hour after her first couple hours of sleep. I've been researching the four-month sleep regression, and I was mostly attributing her out-of-the-usual sleeping to that, even though she's five months. The things I read said that she could be up because of developmental leaps, or a changing sleep cycle. Each said this is a phase that will eventually pass, but when you're up for the fifth time between midnight and 3 a.m. the end of that phase can seem pretty far off. To me it seemed especially far off, as I hadn't seen any developmental changes in our darling daughter.
Well, apparently I wasn't looking hard enough because Friday morning my husband went in to find Laurel sleeping on her stomach! Now, I've seen her roll over all on her own less than five times total, so I was shocked and thought it was a fluke, but literally overnight Laurel has become a rolling maniac! Last night she was waking up every hour because she would find herself on her belly. As exhausted as my husband and I both were, we are excited that our little girl has figured this out (especially since I was convinced she never would). Today she's been rolling onto her belly all day, showing off her new moves.
But last night as I lay in bed, listening to my hubby try to get our little one back to sleep on the monitor, I was thinking to myself, "This is totally ridiculous, does every mom go through this? I can't be alone, right?" And that brings me to our first blog post, seeking support from other moms who aren't always sure of what they're doing, who don't have it always figured out. That's me, but with laughter, love, and Laurel I'm hoping I can figure it out as I go!
Please feel free to comment, and let me know if you've gone through something like this!
