The Curious Incident Of The Cat In The Nighttime

Last night I was in that semi-conscious state where I’m half awake because something hurts and I have to roll over. Then I thought I heard a little voice calling for mom. My whole body went on alert (well, as alert has half-conscious can be anyway) and sure enough there was a little voice yelling “MOM!”

Down the hall in the girls’ room I found Catherine sobbing into her pillow. I hugged her and asked what was wrong. She spilled out a little sob story with no discernable words, only sounds that were meant to convey feelings. My brain automatically went down the list of

Things That Catherine Would Cry About In The Middle Of The Night:
1. She needs a drink of water.
2. She is scared.
3. She is sick.

Yes, the very first thing on the list is a drink of water. That is because this happens a lot. Did she need a drink of water? Yes, that was it. Good job, brain. I brought her some water. As she drank, I heard Lexa stir in her bed. Now my brain switched to baby feeding mode.

When was the last time the baby ate? Is she waking up or going to stay asleep? In other words, should I feed her now or risk going back to bed only to get up again later? My brain decided that awake now is better than awake now AND later and that it had been long enough that hungry-in-the-middle-of-the-night was inevitable.

Bottle was made and brought. As I came around the crib to wake Lexa up, I saw that she was already awake and chewing on her blanket. Good choice not going back to bed, brain.

After drinking, I was worried that she would not want to go back to sleep right away, but as I held her up to burp her, she lay her head on my shoulder. She picked her head up twice to look me in the face and give me a big smile, and then quietly did a little “Pffftt!” with her tongue. I put her back in bed and then went back to bed myself.

I’m recounting this story because I am impressed with what my brain did on its own in the middle of the night. I felt kind of like I was watching as my brain took control and made my body do all these things. Probably hallucinating because of lack of sleep. Maybe it seemed so weird because usually when things happen in the middle of the night, I am cranky and unreasonable. My brain tries to believe that if I ignore the kids, they will quiet themselves or Cliff will hear them. Being rational in the middle of the night (or even morning for that matter) is not something I can usually manage.