Her own room

When Cameron came home from the hospital last December, she came home on an apnea monitor and was still very vulnerable to the health risks that come along with preemies. I worried she would stop breathing or she would spit up in her sleep as she so often did but that one day she would aspirate and choke. The only thing I could do to get some sleep was to put her in my room with me. She would sleep about a foot away from me and whenever she would cough or anything I would wake up and be able to check on her. We had a false alarm on her apnea monitor here and there and I was thankful to have been right there next to her. By the spring her doctor had discontinued the use of her monitor and she had started to grow out of her reflux issues. She was starting to sleep through the night and I was feeling much more comfortable with everything. But then came time for summer. We had no air conditioning in our house so we put a window unit in our bedroom to keep cool at night. I opted to just keep her in our room for the summer instead of putting a separate window unit in her bedroom, which admittedly was still used for storage that this point and would have taken some rearranging to get her in her crib.

So the summer came and went and by the end of summer, she was sleeping terribly. She was up every hour or two and wanted to nurse back to sleep constantly. It was completely exhausting for me. But looking at it from her perspective it makes sense. She would wake up and see me right there and think, oh how convenient, there's my mommy ready and willing to nurse me back to sleep! So she would make her demands known and I would oblige so that I could get back to sleep as soon as possible. It got to the point where I knew I needed to put her in her own room. It was clearly the healthiest thing for both her and I, because babies need good, uninterrupted sleep just as much as moms do. Her brain would function better during the day on good sleep and uninterrupted sleep is imperative to brain development for babies. But at this point, we were looking to buy a house and I didn't want to move her into her own room at the old house only to move her again at the new house. Cameron is not exactly a baby that likes change. She has her routine and wants to stick with it, so I thought it would be better to wait until we had moved and make the switch all at once.

Well that time finally came at the end of October. I was very ready but a little bit sad at the same time. The first night she felt so far away from me and I laid in bed worrying about ridiculous things like "what if someone breaks into her room through the window and I'm not there to respond?" and I would get sad at the thought of her waking up and feeling alone. And honestly Cameron did just fine. So the second night I went to sleep feeling much calmer. And once again, Cameron did just fine. So the third night I went to sleep without a single worry. Our new living arrangement was just what we all needed.

So as it stands, Cameron's sleep has SIGNIFICANTLY improved just by simply moving her into her own room. This is a MUCH healthier pattern for both of us. We don't get completely woken up and out of our sleep cycles 5 or 6 times per night. Now, at worst she wakes up once per night and she has even slept all the way through the night a few times! One wake up compared to 5 or 6 is quite the improvement I would say. I feel much better in the morning and I am sure that Cameron does as well.

Anyways, I am very excited about all of this for many reasons. In addition to her better sleep, during the move I was able to sort through and put into storage what we don't use from her old room and only keep the stuff that we do use in her new room. That on top of the fact that her room is significantly bigger makes for a much more comfortable and organized nursery. Her new room is one of my favorite parts of the new house, and it's all hers! But most importantly, I am happy to report that Cameron too loves her room and crib! It's a win for all of us :)

Here is an impromptu photo shoot that I did of Cameron "modeling" her crib after waking up from a nap one day.