Sleep training

Background: Addy still doesn't sleep through the night yet.  She wakes up 2, 3, 4 times a night: sometimes to eat, sometimes to be held, sometimes it's gas pains.  Sometimes she falls asleep while nursing, othertimes we have to walk her to sleep in the snugli.  Things got worse over Christmas because of her cold, but now that she's better, we've decided that we need our sleep too, so we are going to "sleep train" her to fall asleep on her own.

Y'all, this is probably the hardest thing I've ever done.  Harder than labor, you ask? Well, that's a different kind of "hard"... This is emotionally painful.  It is almost unbearable, listening to your child scream like this, especially when they rarely cry in the first place.  I know all parents go through this, it's a rite of passage, etc., but it doesn't make it any easier...  We are in the process of doing our first night of sleep training, so I'm hoping that blogging about it may distract me and make the crying easier to handle.  Oh please, let blogging make the crying easier to handle!

Here is the play by play so far:
8:50 Adelyn had been asleep for about 2 hours at this point, but decided to wake up (she had a long busy weekend and fell asleep while nursing).  I fed her one last time to make sure her tank was filled, so to speak, and then we decided to start "progressive waiting" (Ferber method - leaving baby for gradually longer periods of time before comforting.  No picking up!)
9:00 Hmmm, maybe we will have to try tomorrow, she's falling asleep again... Opps, no, Nova knocked something over in the next room and definitely woke her up (grrrr... free cat, anyone? I kid.).  And so begins our adventure.  I make sure she is calm, then put Addy down in her crib and leave. Crying ensues.
9:05 Derek goes in to check on her. Put the pacifier back in, quick kiss and a soft pat, "Momma and Daddy love you", and it's right back out the door.  More screaming.
9:10 Momma's turn, same as what Daddy did. Peanut quieted down, thinking I was coming back to feed her.  Sorry babe, no such luck. Momma leaves, screaming continues.  Breaking-the-sound-barrier type screams. Screeches, if you will.
9:20 Daddy goes in, repeat above.
9:30 Momma goes in, repeat above.
9:36 Silence????
9:43 Screams again, Daddy's turn
9:51 Silence again?! Could it be working???
9:52 No. Back to screams.
9:53 Wait for it... She may be winding down here...
9:58 Well, she's not screaming, but it sounds as if she's playing with her Fisher Price sea creatures on her crib?
10:04 More crying.
10:18 Crying continues off and on, like she falls asleep and then has a bad dream and wakes up.  Poor angel. Here's hoping things are drawing to a close...
10:33 I think this is it!  Addy seems to be sleeping :)
10:45 Houston, we have a sleeping child.  Now it's time for sleeping parents.

Derek says he wasn't sure if I was going to be able to handle it, but I'm proud to say that I hung in there! Same thing tomorrow night, and the next night, and the next, until Adelyn has mastered putting herself to sleep.

Oh yes, and I wrote this on my phone again (no internet, remember?)  Talk about using all of my concentration, trying to push the right keys on the keyboard! Ha!