Night Owl

Fairly consistently, Axl has been going to bed around 8-8:30 and sleeping until anywhere between 3:30 and 4:30 when he wakes up to eat and then going back to bed until 7:30. One night, he even slept until about 5:45 before waking up.

This past Wednesday night was a very different story. Axl had a normal day and went to bed around 8:30. As I slipped into bed at 10 I heard him starting to fuss a little, my reaction to which is usually just to sneak in there really fast and pop his yummy back in before he wakes himself up. I tried this, but when I got in there he definitely still looked asleep but his cry was escalating really fast and he wouldn't let me put his pacifier in his mouth. By then, Tyler was coming in the other door and said he thought he must be having a bad dream and just needed to be woken up. He picked him up and tried to wake him but he just screamed and screamed and screamed. He finally woke up but he still just screamed. Inconsolable. I tried to feed him and he wouldn't eat. He didn't arch his back or anything to make us think his stomach hurt. This went on for about an hour. Tyler finally got him calmed down while holding him but anytime you laid him down the screaming started again. When he was calm he still had a little pouty frown and breathed really heavily. He laid down at 12:30 but woke again at 2:30 and ate a little but the screaming started again. At this point we gave Tylenol and Mylicon to try and knock out whatever was bothering him. It again took two hours for him to calm down at all.
This time I thought I should take his temperature. I started, him screaming all the while, and it got to the point where he was screaming so hard he wasn't breathing and his face was turning red. I was going to try and finish taking it, but Tyler yanked him up off the table--thermometer in bum and all. Even in the mess, it was cute to see Tyler genuinely concerned. He's just usually really even keel and doesn't show much emotion, but you could really tell he was worried about the little guy. I almost called the doctor at this point but Tyler again got him to stop crying around 4:45 and sat with him in the living room while he slept until 6 when we had to get up and get ready for work and school. We laid him down then and he slept until 7. When I got in the shower I just sat down in the floor...We were SO tired. The next day he seemed to do fine with Natalie, but she said he slept a lot.

So...the conclusion is that he is teething. It is a little early, but what I've read has pretty much convinced me. There is a little lump on his bottom gum that wasn't there before, the slobber doesn't stop, and he's sticking blankets, rabbit ears, anything he can get his hands on in his mouth. He has had a low grade fever since that night. :( We're just continuing to give Tylenol when he needs it and most things are going fairly smoothly. We've had one rough night since then, but other than that we have it under control, I think.

And to top it all off...we have to stop swaddling tonight. He's getting pretty close to rolling from back to front and that is when the doctor said to stop. Wish us luck.