WOW! Wow! wow! So, for today's sleep update. I put The Daughter to bed at 8, as usual, she woke at 10:30 and we nursed. I went to bed in my room as I've been doing (and then going into her the first time she wakes and staying with her). I woke up groggy to the sound of The Daughter yelling out very loudly. Since I keep the baby monitor right by my head I wasn't sure what I was hearing. It was definitely yelling not crying like she woke and I wasn't there. It suddenly hit me that the monitor was not on and The Daughter was yelling loudly from down the hall. I dashed into her room to find her halfway off the bed, between the bedrail and the bed. *GASP* She was awake enough that she was actually holding herself there otherwise she'd have fallen on her head. I picked her up and, as with the nights before, laid her on my shoulder and she fell back asleep instantly. Then I glanced at the clock... sit down, dear readers... it was 3:25!!!!!!!!! My daughter had slept for 5 hours! Reeling at the thought of having had 4.5 hours of sleep, I laid down and went through everything in my mind. I distinctly remembered turning on the monitor and, normally, I hear her move before she makes a sound and I go to her. I couldn't figure out how the monitor was off unless it was broken. More than that, I was really concerned that the bed rail had moved out. The Daughter has never hit the bed rail before and she knows how to get off the bed herself so I've never really been afraid before but now I'm concerned. I spent the next hour fretting and then kicking myself that I could be asleep. I finally fell asleep and the next time I woke up it was 6am, light outside, we nursed and fell back asleep for an hour.

When we got up I went to take The Daughter into The Husband and I told him what happened. Apparently, he had turned the monitor off when he went to bed. He thought I was in bed with her. This can be interpreted two ways. Either he was so tired by the end of his day that he didn't notice my body in the bed or, he noticed my body and it didn't register that his wife was in bed with him!

So I'm thinking we should put the mattress on the floor even thought ant season is coming and we regularly have problems with ants. Then we could get rid of the rails altogether. My other thought process is maybe bringing her back into our bed and seeing what happens. The problem there, though, and the reason I moved into the other room with her in the first place is that she wakes at the slightest movement from either of us and we only have a Queen sized bed and she seems to need room to sleep. I never anticipated not co-sleeping so I haven't fully explored the options. When do children regularly sleep in a regular bed without rails alone? I don't even know.