The Good, the Bad, the CRANKY

Today started out really well, Brian and I got some much needed sleep and woke up fresh as daisies.  We went across to see the munchkin and found her sleeping away as well as receiving a good night report from her nurse. 

Later on, Grandma and Grandpa Donnelly came by to see her and were pleasantly surprised to see her wide eyed in her daddy's arms.  Brian loved being able to hold Livvy while she was wide awake just content to look around her room and hang out.  Once the guys took off to get Brian's flat fixed (yes I know, if he didn't have bad luck - he'd have no luck at all); I got to hold Liv and she was still wide awake.  Rookie parent mistake, we should have put her back in her crib after she was awake for over an hour instead of taking advantage of her good nature. 

The payback we got tonight for taking advantage of her good nature earlier in the day hardly made it seem worth it looking back.  She cried for over an hour and yes, while we're aware that babies cry sometimes regardless of a clean diaper, full tummy, etc - our baby can't cry for prolonged periods of time without causing herself stress and potentially hurting her vitals.  I'm a firm believer of the addage of letting a baby cry it out sometimes, but Olivia and heart babies in general can't deal with that same philosophy.  Letting her scream it out for a few minutes tonight raised her BP by over 10 points and her O2 sats started to drop off, both of which are big No Nos.  Eventually Brian and I had to give in and ask the nurse to give her a mild sedative so she could get some much needed rest. 

Rookie parent lesson learned.  We need to get the little Missy on a schedule and start following it to avoid nighttimes like tonight.  As wonderful as it is to have her awake and interacting with us, it's not worth it to see her miserable at the end of the day.  It's also a helpless feeling for us that we had to rely on a medicine to put our baby to sleep instead of being able to soothe her ourselves.  Chances are I'll wake up at some point tonight to find that Brian has snuck out of bed to go check on her.  I'll have to keep everyone posted on that tomorrow.  :)

Here's to a peaceful night of sleep for Olivia!

G'night