Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Never Wake A Sleeping Baby

Babies are perceptive creatures.

They seem to know exactly how much their beleaguered, sleep-deprived parents can take. Will went to sleep at 8 PM and slept through until 6 AM. Did we do anything different yesterday? Not. a. thing. Which only goes to show that there isn't much that you can do when it comes to sleep, other than hope it gets better and not take it for granted when it does.

So, my title today, about never waking a sleeping baby. Yeah, I never really had to wake Will for meals (he faithfully woke to eat every two hours) and since he never had a gaining issue, if he didn't wake on his own, I let him sleep. Later on, sleep became one of the most precious commodities in our house, and I didn't care if he was "napping" at 6 PM. I let him sleep.

Yesterday, for the first time in his life, I woke Will up.

You see, I found this blog, with this miraculous and heartbreaking story. And after I read every single entry, crying through most of it, I went into my son's room, where he was peacefully napping. I stood over his crib and sobbed some more, thanking God for the precious gift that we have been given and praying for this family so in need of another miracle.

Eventually, my tears woke him. He looked around for a minute, then looked right at me and smiled a sleepy "Hello, Mommy" smile. I scooped him up from his crib, hugging him tightly, sat in his rocking chair and rocked him, the tears still streaming down my face. Life just doesn't seem fair sometimes. There is so much sadness in the world and yet I have so much to be grateful for.

Please, if you haven't been to his blog yet, add your prayers for Stellan.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

I know... I did the same thing last night. I've been following Stellan's story for a few months, but with this latest turn he's constantly on my mind. j asked about Stellan last night and I was showing him Stellan's pictures on MckMama's blog. And then we both just sat and stared and held our munchkin. And when I changed his diaper before bed and put his jammies on I just held him over his changing table with crocodile tears dripping on my sweet baby. This was all compounded by the fact that we'd watched last week's Grey's before bed and everything was extra sentimental regarding the brevity of life.

*hugs*

HereWeGoAJen said...

Elizabeth always seems to know when I am sobbing over someone else's baby and she holds my neck extra tight.

AwkwardMoments said...

Katie - You are such a blessing!

Polka Dot said...

I've been following Stellan's story for a while now, too. I think of him and his family several times a day.

Mrs. Piggy said...

Thanks for bringing that blog to my attention. Those kind of blogs always make me hug my kids a little tighter. Reminds me how lucky I truly am.

We need more Will pics!

Joy@WDDCH said...

When I saw what blog you were referring to I had one terrifying moment of wondering if he had taken a turn for the worse before I read the most recent post. It looks like Stellan is doing good right now and my heart is just hurting for that family right now.

Dear sweet Jesus, hold them tight!

Elle Charlie said...

Wow, I just read Stellan's story for the first time - what a journey in so many ways. Thanks for sharing the link - I will add my prayers to the many.

Mazzy said...

I have to wake L up every 3 hours to eat, otherwise she would sleep endlessly I think.
I do often have to walk in there and stare at her, though, amazed that she is real and here and that it actually all happened and I am not just delusional and dreaming all this up.