New Blue Bed

There’s a potential downside to having the squirts sleep on air mattresses: Beware of deflationary trends.

Sadie used my old air mattress, when we first started this, after she went from crib to toddler bed to mattress on the floor to floor, with a lot of time spent sleeping with me, or without me but on the office floor because her room had cooties.  We tried that as a cheap way to give her a large, low bed she was less likely to roll off of and would be inches off the ground if she did, and to make it comfortable.

That worked great for a while, with a detour in the middle when she insisted on sleeping on the bed pulled out of the sleeper love seat.  We brought that home from the office for Deb’s mother to sleep on, but Sadie claimed it and grandma gamely slept on the air mattress.  Poor back.  I believe we went from that to the mattress out of the love seat on the floor, then back to the air mattress because the kids were damaging the love seat, which lacks support with the mattress removed.

Through all that, the full size air mattress I bought years ago hung in there.  Recently, though, it got a bit saggy and seemed to have a slow leak.  More than normal, since they always lose inflation over time.  I put it aside and got Sadie a brand new one, same brand, slightly updated design (they are easier to fill now), and generated the excitement of a “new blue bed,” with the OO words appropriately drawn out for emphasis.

That one sprung a full fledged leak in a matter of weeks.  Logical as it was to assume the kids had punctured it, I believe it was structural failure.  The opening was right along a seam.  That proved immune to patching off hand.  Meanwhile, when Valerie decided she’d move out of the crib, which started us on a whole new slew of sleep issues, I got her an air mattress of her own, but twin, or it wouldn’t have fit.  I lamented not getting Sadie a twin.

I swapped Sadie back to the old mattress, which sure enough, still slowly deflated, but not slowly enough.  After a couple nights she was almost hitting the floor through it and it was just usable.

Today I got her a twin mattress, identical to Val’s, which is a different brand from all the prior ones.  Since Val’s is on the “add some air every couple weeks” plan and seems robust so far, I stuck with the same model.  This made for an exciting bedtime.

Currently we have to put Valerie in bed first.  Then we go through a ritual - which is what it seems to have become - of her getting back out of bed and trying to come out of the room and getting yelled at to get in bed.  This happens anywhere from once to several times, sometimes with a time or two of placing her back into bed, before she falls asleep.  Somewhere.  Usually not in bed, or in an odd position, and needing to be covered with blankets.  She’s taken to sleeping under a pillow, even if she has shed all blankets.  She then gets up somewhere between 12:30 and 5:00, usually screaming, sometimes reflexively and almost sleep walking, and leaves the room.  Normally she makes a beeline for the bed in our room and gets in it.  Last night I was just coming out of the office at 1:30 when she did this, and she came to the office door.  That may have been because the light was on, or it may have been because she needed Tylenol and that is in the office.  A couple nights now she’s managed the whole night in her room, except for the nightly incident.  Sometimes, especially if she screams but doesn’t leave the room, it’s a simple matter of not being able to find her cup when she needs a sip.

After Valerie is asleep, Sadie goes to bed.  This is an easy and happy thing, except currently she requires one of us to lay down beside her until she falls asleep.  It’s rare by comparison, but some nights she freaks too.  Usually whoever lays down with her falls asleep for half an hour to a couple hours.  I couldn’t, tonight, for two reasons.  First, it wasn’t as comfortable with the new mattress, which is higher and changes the space beside the bed, while eliminating room to be all or partially on the bed with her.  Second, the smell of the new bed.  Ugh.  I should have known…

In an effort to help settle Valerie, one of us has been sleeping in their room.  That was also in an effort to migrate Henry to the crib, which is where he goes when Deb takes that duty.  It wasn’t working out well, so I’ve mostly been doing it.

There’s a cozy little nest between their two mattresses.  The giant Nemo pillow connects them, and some throw pillows and a sleeping bag are there.  You are tight between the two beds, and if sleeping there can end up partly on one of those, or effectively using one as a pillow.  Sometimes Valerie takes that spot and we get her bed.  It’s weird.  She can’t fall asleep with anyone there, but has gotten into cuddling during the night.  So a lot of times she wakes enough to know you’re there and gets down into that tiny space with you, despite the lack of room.  That can amount to the same thing as her landing there in the first place.

Tonight she ended up on her bed in a reasonable position.  I groomed the narrow nest area and tried to sleep.  No dice.

The smell of the new bed kept me awake.  Which is a drawback I hadn’t considered.

Which is how I ended up in here, relatively awake, writing about sleep issues after reviving the office floor sleep nest in preparation to crash here.  When Deb has the bed, Henry is in there with her, which is terribly convenient for nursing.  There’s not really room for all of us, which is why the juggling until he’s just slightly older.  Then there’s my not always being comfortable in the bed, despite the floor being, well, the floor.

I’m back to falling asleep at the desk.  Which I did for a while after the kids were in bed, not even realizing it was that close until I woke up.  Time to go to bed and hope it sticks.  And hope that Val is fine without someone right there tonight.

Posted by on 12/06 at 02:08 AM

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