drama drama drama
the other nite norah catherine was screaming in her bed. this could be normal, but steph and wade and i went in there b/c it sounded a little more dramatic than a normal norah catherine thing. she was sitting up in her bed screaming and saying there was fire on her and really freaking out. she was screaming that it was burning her and telling us where, but she was not yet fully awake. (granted, a few evenings earlier she had actually caught something on fire in the fireplace, thought it was bad to have caught it on fire then pulled it out and placed the now FIREBALL onto our carpet which steph attempted to put out WITH HER BARE HAND which only swept it onto the dog then i snuffed it out with a pull-up; so she did have actual fodder for this event). upon finally waking her, she frantically details how there is fire still on her and can't we see it? it is there by her doll stroller in the corner of her room. it is burning her on her armpits and look, there it is, on the floor at her bed. see it? see it?
okay.
if you know me, i do not handle children half-asleep walking about in the nite, staring at me while i sleep, just standing in the hall when they were asleep moments ago, etc. very well. children can be utterly freaky in these terms. this is why the horror-movie industry has used this angle repeatedly. it works. it is scary as crap. so, my infant daughter screaming about her skin burning in her sleep then waking and hallucinating, actually seeing things that are not there and wondering how we can all be calm as her room is burning down and taking her with it...yeah, not my cup of tea exactly. we realized she had a pretty good fever, of which she had no indication at bedtime, and no other signs of illness. i was like, i think she just had a nite terror. i didn't even know much about that, but i like to diagnose and that seemed pretty viable as far as guessing goes. wade and steph actually did not attempt to dissuade me from my diagnosis, which is really rare, so i thought i might really be onto something. i was. this is a snippet of my research:
"Children from age two to six are most prone to night terrors, and they affect about fifteen percent of all children,[1] (although people of any age may experience them). Episodes may recur for a couple of weeks then suddenly disappear. The symptoms also tend to be different, like the child being able to recall the experience, and while nearly awake, hallucinate. Strong evidence has shown that a predisposition to night terrors and other parasomniac disorders can be passed genetically. Though there are a multitude of triggers; emotional stress during the previous day and a high fever are thought to precipitate most episodes. Ensuring that the right amount of sleep is gained is an important factor." (wikipedia)
just the kind of excitement i have been looking for as a mother living half-weeks without a husband here.
okay.
if you know me, i do not handle children half-asleep walking about in the nite, staring at me while i sleep, just standing in the hall when they were asleep moments ago, etc. very well. children can be utterly freaky in these terms. this is why the horror-movie industry has used this angle repeatedly. it works. it is scary as crap. so, my infant daughter screaming about her skin burning in her sleep then waking and hallucinating, actually seeing things that are not there and wondering how we can all be calm as her room is burning down and taking her with it...yeah, not my cup of tea exactly. we realized she had a pretty good fever, of which she had no indication at bedtime, and no other signs of illness. i was like, i think she just had a nite terror. i didn't even know much about that, but i like to diagnose and that seemed pretty viable as far as guessing goes. wade and steph actually did not attempt to dissuade me from my diagnosis, which is really rare, so i thought i might really be onto something. i was. this is a snippet of my research:
"Children from age two to six are most prone to night terrors, and they affect about fifteen percent of all children,[1] (although people of any age may experience them). Episodes may recur for a couple of weeks then suddenly disappear. The symptoms also tend to be different, like the child being able to recall the experience, and while nearly awake, hallucinate. Strong evidence has shown that a predisposition to night terrors and other parasomniac disorders can be passed genetically. Though there are a multitude of triggers; emotional stress during the previous day and a high fever are thought to precipitate most episodes. Ensuring that the right amount of sleep is gained is an important factor." (wikipedia)
just the kind of excitement i have been looking for as a mother living half-weeks without a husband here.