To sleep, perchance to dream

People who say they sleep like a baby usually don't have one. Maya is a perfect baby in all ways, except in her sleep patterns. She goes to bed on her terms. If we try to put her to bed, she will wail. When she wakes up in the night, she will stand in her cot and wail. This happens up to 5 times per night. What I would give for a night’s unbroken sleep.

To be fair, though, she’s not been well. We had a bit of a panic on Friday night. She’s been suffering with a cold for over a week now, but on Friday, she started vomiting and pooing a lot. Our concern grew when she started to turn a funny colour – her lips, hands and feet were blue. We phoned the NHS direct line, and they instructed us to go directly to A & E. By the time we got there, Maya looked a lot better. In the waiting room, she began laughing and smiling, and playing with the toys provided.

We feebly approached the reception desk, and apologetically simpered that that she seemed OK now – maybe we should go back home. They said no, wait to see the doctor. Doctor arrived after an hour, laughed at us, and sent us on our way. We got 2 different explanations – one is that her coughing had caused the blueness, the other is that her internal temperature was wrong, and so blood rushes from the extremities to fix it (seems more likely). Anyway, she seems to be on the mend now.

It’s easy to be a paranoid parent. Especially when you’re not getting much sleep.