The Trixie Update

The Trixie Update is going on vacation until Monday, January 5th, 2004. We will still try to post a “Picture of the Day” (at least for weekdays), but no promises. Sorry for the downtime, but we’ll be back, recharged, and ready to report. See you next year!

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At first I thought it was the lack of sleep, but it happens even when I’m rested. I’ll be running water at the sink or listening to the radio and I hear Trixie crying. I go in to get her and discover she’s sound asleep.

I return to what I was doing, turn the water back on or the radio up — and I hear her again. When I go back to check on her, she’s still sound asleep. I realized pretty quickly that she was not making noise in her sleep. It’s all in my head. It’s the phantom crying. I think this has to be some kind of instinctual reaction. You listen to her cries, squeals, grunts and screams so much that your mind tries to fill in the gaps when she is actually asleep and not making any noise.

I’m sure this is also related to every parent’s worry that a child may fall victim to SIDS. I find myself often peeking in her room to confirm that her chest is rising and falling. Sometimes it takes forever to get a lock on her movement, especially if she’s under a few blankets. As great as it is when she’s asleep, the phantom noises are a subconscious acknowledgement that it’s more comforting when she’s awake. Scary.

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That’s right. As you can see above in the new “Trixie Telemetry” panel, the Sleep Log has finally been added. There will be more about it very soon, including an analysis of almost a month’s worth of data that visually illustrate Trixie’s sleep cycle and help explain why my brain slowly stopped working several weeks ago.

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Today was a very bad day. I’m no longer going to make predictions about when new stuff is going up on the site because it only takes one night to undo a healthy state of mind and bring the whole enterprise to a grinding halt. Once again, my brain is sluggggish and fuzzzy from the lack of sleep, and the screaming just won’t stop. The screaming. the screaming…

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Oh, those sweet, sweet antibiotics — the Mastitis never had a chance. Having a weekend to rest helped too. Jennifer is doing much better now. We’d like to thank everyone for their thoughts. Trixie is sleeping OK. Nothing to brag about, but at least she is asleep between midnight and five. I got to catch up on a little bit of sleep too, so it’s my hope there’s going to be some new stuff on the site this week.

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We got great advice from the doctor regarding Trixie’s sleep schedule: Put her to sleep at 8pm, wake her to feed at 11pm, and then put her back down for the night. This schedule is designed to break Trixie from expecting to eat between midnight and 5am. If she wakes up during that time, we’re only supposed to comfort — but not feed — her.

The first night was an absolute disaster, and left me feeling sick from sleep deprivation. However, the second night was an unparalleled success. She went to sleep on her own at 7:45pm. We woke her at 11pm and put her back down after she took a bottle. She cried at 3:24am. I went in and held her, put her back down, and then she slept until 7:45am. Now we still didn’t get an eight hour block of uninterrupted sleep, but it’s better than anything else that’s come along. Trixie is also happy today after sleeping so well. Let’s just see if we can do it two days in a row.

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Trixie went to the doctor’s again today. Got the usual measurements and another complement of shots. She’s currently 13lb 2oz, and 25 1/4″ tall (long). I’d like to present the latest height and weight in the standard graph format, extrapolating her rapid growth to ridiculous 12 month levels, but the disrupted sleep thing is wearing me down too much. My higher level brain functions are turning to mush.

I think what I really need is an intern here at the Trixie Update. Someone to do the legwork and research for the different stories. They could also execute some of the simpler graphics templates. Database (MYSQL) and PHP experience would be fantastic because I’m currently sitting on the Diaper and Sleep Logs due to design issues. (The Sleep Log in particular is a very rich and revealing visual representation of Trixie’s horrific sleep habits.) I just haven’t had time to pull these Log packages together and get them up on the site. There are also a number of other stories we have sitting on the back-burner. Just wanted to let our readers know that we’re trying to get rid of the backlog. Maybe I can work out a semester internship program with one of the local colleges.

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Well, the past week and a half has been exhausting. Sleep training has taken a toll on both of us (maybe all three of us, but who knows what’s going on in Trixie’s head.) Her sleep schedule is surprisingly unpredictable. Maybe I set myself up for a fall, but I expected to tease out some kind of pattern. There are a few constants, but nothing that helps predict whether she’s going to start screaming at 3:30 in the morning.

In related news, a second front has opened in the Battle to Raise Trixie. Jennifer has developed Mastitis. This is a very unfortunate, but treatable, infection related to clogged milk ducts. The exact cause is hard to pin down, so we’re just going to be paying extra attention and spending extra time to make sure it clears up. This is pretty much the ultimate price a nursing mom can pay, so let’s have a moment of silence for our fallen hero. The good news is that the condition does not affect the milk supply, so Trixie is still getting the good stuff.

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