Sleeping Through the Night

WARNING: This post might contain topics that could potentially be uncomfortable. However, I would say it's pretty normal new parent stuff.

Matt and I have been enjoying parenting for the most part. Daniel has been a pretty easy baby and continues to reward us with daily smiles. I must admit, it's pretty nice. His long hours of sleep seem to be gravitating toward adult sleeping times. Let me explain that a bit. The technical definition of "sleeping through the night" for a baby is sleeping for five or more hours at a time. Daniel has been doing this for quite some time, but he was beginning his five hours of sleep around 8 or 9 pm, so he would still wake up around 2 or 3 am. Now he is starting to go down at 10 or 11 pm and wake up sometime around 6 am. On these nights, Matt's alarm will go off, and he will roll over and say, "Did he wake up last night?" in an excited and relaxed tone. To which I respond in a somewhat distressed and annoyed tone, "No, and my boobs feel like they are about to explode." As if to suggest that Matt should already know this. Like his Daddy-sense should be able to tell him that I'm beyond the point of full and starting to spill out of the tank. I have no problem sleeping when I'm full, but once I'm up like within seconds of being up, I need relief and my mind is totally consumed by this thought. It is all I can do to not go to Daniel's crib and poke him. I guess I could pump at these times, but I'm sure that Daniel would wake up right after I pumped. So given the additional worry that pumping would create, I just grin and bear it until the baby wakes up or makes the least little noise so that I can use that as an excuse to pick him up and nurse him. That, to me, is the definition of sleeping through the night.