Night Terrors

Last night Tyler woke up screaming 4 different times shortly after going to sleep, and then again around 6-6:30 in the morning. He's inconsolable, irrational, kicks and flails, moans, and then goes back to sleep eventually. While we were at my parent's house, he threw a fit that lasted for more than an hour while we were doing everything in our power to wake him and make him happy. We've been so frustrated. We are so tired and have been running out of patience. I mean for heavens sake, the baby sleeps better than my almost 3 year old son!

When he was younger, we linked it to his ear problems (fluid that won't drain) and thought he was just waking up in pain so both Marc and I have just been assuming its his ears again. It's very rare that Tyler gets a full nights sleep. As I think back, this has been going on since at least December....right as we were getting ready to move and right when the boys were starting to give up their nap. Bryce has the same trouble, but its not as frequent. Each night we pray that the boys will have a peaceful nights sleep and its so hard to watch them struggle with this. Last night, I prayed that I could be pointed in the direction to help me because I'm just at my wits end. We're not getting any sleep and my fuse is next to nothing because of it.

This morning I put up a note on facebook about being fed up with my son waking up screaming. My friend Amber sent me a link that talked about night terrors and my kids are showing all of the symptoms. As I researched more and read what other parents are saying, I'm 99% positive this is what we're dealing with. The boys won't tell me what woke them because they're not fully awake. Trying to wake them up just makes it worse for all of us because they're still "stuck" in this inbetween stage of sleep and being awake and they just fight it. There's been a few times that we've finally been able to "wake" Tyler up and then he's a completely different person. He's happy, he's talkative, and totally himself, versus the raging monster that makes us think that he's almost possessed.

I'm grateful that my prayers were answered and I was able to learn more about what my kids are going through. It just makes sense now....The "10:00 Bryce cry" or why the won't "use their words" and talk to us isntead of just crying and moaning. Unfortunately, there's no easy solution, but at least we now have knowledge, and that is empowering.