Seriously Napping

Just last week, Renee started sleeping through the night for the first time!!! I feel like a whole new person and very quickly we're falling into a nice groove. This is good news for blogging. I'm looking forward to telling more stories about the family so that people reading can keep up with what's going on in our lives and so that we will have documented memories to look back on in the future.

The latest news is that both girls are sick. Nothing earth-shattering, but sick nonetheless, both with the same set of symptoms: raspy cough (even while sleeping during the night), runny nose, and intermittent low-grade fever. One of my FB friends mentioned that RSV is going around. I don't know if RSV is what Kira and Renee have; regardless they need to get through it on their own. There are so few drugs for children. Even antibiotics are given very cautiously. The best I can do for my girls is too keep the humidifiers running, give them plenty of fluids, and plenty of rest. That's what today has been all about. (Today is the first day since the onset of symptoms on Friday that we have been home all day. Other days we've been out. Irresponsible?...ugh, I don't know.)

Normally, Renee has three naps per day. She wakes up at about 8 or 9. After only and hour of activity (mainly breakfast), she goes back to sleep until about 11. Wakes up for lunch and back to sleep from 1 to 3. Then she is awake until dinner, at which time she will take a 20 to 30 minute power nap. Bedtime at about 8 or 9. Eventually she will wake up again at about 5 or 6, but will go back to sleep until normal wake up time after 2-3 oz of formula. We'll try and wean her off the early morning feed after she gets better. Kira's normal schedule is to wake up at 7, play until lunch time, have lunch at 12, and finally nap at 1 or 2 for an hour. Upon waking, she will go back to playing until dinner time. Bath at about 7 or 730 and bedtime at 8 or 830.

Today I have been putting Renee down to sleep at the slightest indication of sleepiness. That means any sort of eye rubbing, yawning, or crankiness. She has been balking since this will usually occur after only 1-2 waking hours, but she does eventually fall asleep for at least a little while. Kira normally sleeps for only an hour, but today I coaxed her into sleeping for almost 3 hours! She woke up once to pee and once because she was too hot.

When I am serious about getting the kids to nap, I absolutely follow these rules:

1. Always get them to pee. Even if Kira peed less than an hour before commencing nap, she will most likely wake up with urgency to pee. Her metabolism while she is sleeping is so different compared with when she is awake!! And this rule applies to Renee too. Always change the diaper before nap; otherwise, she might wake up with a leaky mess.

2. Don't forget the temperature. Also due to the change in metabolism, both Kira and Renee get hot very easily during sleep. Sometimes they get hot enough to wake up in an angry mood. I usually try to remember that while tucking them in to bed.

3. Never hesitate to medicate! If I suspect that the slightest discomfort is affecting their sleep, I don't even think about it and immediately give Tylenol or Motrin to Kira or Renee. There are studies that suggest significant negative side effects to giving these drugs, but any drug will have some side effect and usually the incidence of said side effects is small. Besides that, my reasoning is that Kira and Renee can't get better unless they rest and they can't rest if they are uncomfortable.

There are other things I do to help the sleep, like run the humidifier, elevate the mattress under their heads, spray their noses with saline solution and suction any mucus, but I don't think those remedies are as important when trying to maximize sleep.

It's 8:30 now and both babies are sleeping!! I hope their coughs will be better tomorrow.