Things that shouldn’t go bump in the night
I was writing last night in the study when I heard Drake give a louder yell than he usually does when he stirs in the night. I went to investigate, and felt his sheep blankie on the floor by his crib with my foot. That’s odd, I thought, he hardly ever throws her out of the crib. Drake’s room is dark, with no night-light, so when I go in to comfort him, I usually just stick my hand in the crib and pat it around till I find him. Last night, though, his body parts seemed strangely arranged, so I moved quickly to hit the lights.
The poor little guy had his feet on the ground, and his torso trapped between the side rail of the crib, which had separated from the end board, and the mattress. No wonder he was yelling so loud; it was quite alarming for both of us. I quickly extricated him and could find no physical harm. He calmed quickly in my arms as I tried to figure out what to do, since my husband was out for the evening. I knew I had to get into Drake’s closet to get his pack n play, but where would I put him while I assembled it? I wanted to do as little else to have him awake and active at 11 p.m. I was excited when I heard my husband come inside, but less so when he didn’t come upstairs. I began speaking into the baby monitor: “I need help; come upstairs,” over and over, on a loop like on Lost, but not in French. Alas, my husband didn’t hear me on the receiver downstairs. I heard him go in and out taking out the garbage and recycling for the morning pickup. Finally, though, he did hear me and come up to assist. He held Drake quiet in our room while I set up the pack n play. Drake was hard to calm when we put him in the pack n play, but when he finally did sleep, he slept through till morning and woke happy. He also took a good, long nap there this afternoon.
I’ve got a call into the crib manufacturer, and spoke to someone at the store from which we purchased the crib. It’s annoyingly more complicated than it should be. I can’t determine the model of the crib, because it’s not on the directions, we threw away the box in our move, and it doesn’t match any of those on the maker’s website. The envelope that housed the directions and was attached to the crib says to contact a different crib company. Finally, the store of purchase is going out of business. I was so pleased when we bought that crib to avoid the crush and anonymity of Babiesrus for personal help from a local store.
I’m hoping that the manufacturer (if indeed the company I contacted IS the manufacturer) will do right by this and we can get the crib repaired or replaced quickly and at no charge. Drake will be 16 months on Monday, and he climbs like a monkey. I don’t think he’ll be sleeping in a crib for long, so having to purchase another at this point, particularly given our current financial freeze due to G. Grod’s layoff, would suck tremendously.
December 16th, 2004 at 7:46 pm
Sage advice from a mother of 4: just let him stay in the pack n play. My last child was 18 months when the crib finally disintigrated, and Bowman decided he prefered the pack n play over the toddler bed. I put a small stool next to it and told him he was free to climb in and out of it anytime the stool was there. I would remove the stool after I put him in bed, and put it back in the AM when I got up. I only had to rescue him from the window sill a few times, but he stayed in that thing until I forced him from it after he turned 3. I feel I got my money’s worth.
December 19th, 2004 at 3:23 pm
Elle, Thanks for the advice. We’ve got him in the pack n play for the immediate future. We’re expecting a new side rail from the manufacturer and will see how that goes, but he does well in the PNP, so why rock the boat? It’s very foolish to worry that he’s sleeping in the “wrong” kind of bed for more than an occasional thing, and thank you for providing perspective on that. I must remember: he’s SLEEPING. And for that, when it happens, I am wildly grateful, no matter the location.