This news deserves a blog post

Last October I went to bed one night and didn't wake up until the morning.  I slept, uninterrupted for the entire night.  And it hasn't happened again since that day. 

 Until now.

Yes dear blog readers, the day has finally come.  No pregnant belly pushing on my bladder, painful leg cramps, or hungry screaming baby jolting me awake from my slumber last night like they have since last fall.  At exactly 5 months and 1 week old, Katherine Elizabeth Wheeler made it through her first night without a feeding.

We've suspected for awhile that her night time feedings could be eliminated.  She was waking up out of habit, not hunger.  We tackled her first wake up (usually between 1:00 a.m and 2:00 a.m.) a few weeks back and after some very rough nights of ignoring those shrieks she stopped waking up at that time.  Our new routine became one feeding somewhere around 3:30 a.m. and I already felt like a new woman only having to wake up once in the night to feed my baby.  Slowly 3:30 became 4:00, then 4:30.  At the beginning of this week I noticed how unenthusiastically Kate was eating during the night, almost just to humor me for getting up.  We had already made plans to devote this coming weekend to some more sleep training to cut out the 4:30 a.m. feeding.

And then I woke up today to early signs of morning light coming in the window at 5:30 a.m., the house still and quiet.  Around 6:00 I went to wake up my soundly sleeping baby, offer her some breakfast and start the day.  It has been so long since I was this alert and clear headed.  I forgot what it felt like to be a fully functioning, rested human.  It feels great.  Kate was smiley as usual this morning, I hope she loved the experience so much that she will want to repeat it every night.

Has sleep deprivation been one of the hardest aspects of parenting so far?  Yes, and I know there will be many more sleepless nights in our future and challenges along the way.  Has every groggy morning, exhausted day, and busy, noisy night been completely worth it?  Yes.