A Night To Forget

Kate had what appears to be a night fright. They run in Jason’s family so he was able to recognize it as more than a bad dream. It. Was. Horrible.  She was crying this sad sad cry and when I went in her room she wouldn’t snap out of it and there was nothing I could do. We got her out of bed and when we thought we had woken her, put her back in bed, but she started crying again. I cannot even explain how awful it was. Jason wasn’t as concerned since he had them as a child and knew she wouldn’t remember any of it. I, however, was a little traumatized. No child should EVER be that sad or scared and I think what really bothered me was that I couldn’t comfort her. Whenever she’s hurt or upset I can always hug her or make her feel better. To not be able to give that comfort as a Mom is just unthinkable. I laid with her in bed and she seemed to be getting over it because she stopped fully crying. She would still whimper occasionally, but I would put my arm around her and that seemed to calm her. I slept with her most of the night and she was fine after the “incident.”

The next morning when I went to get her I asked if she had a good night (all upbeat, praying Jason was right about the whole no recollection part). She quickly replied “Yep, where’s Abby?” And that was that. As awful as it was for me I’m kind of glad she had a night fright and not a nightmare since she honestly did not remember it at all!

They say if you’re prone to night frights (runs in Jason’s family so I guess our kids are) they can be brought on by being overtired and some other causes. Kate was definitely overtired that night. They also say getting them to concentrate on something helps to snap them out of it or you can just try to comfort them while it’s going on if they don’t wake up. Hopefully, since that was her first one and it’s been a couple of nights they won’t happen regularly.

Again, I’m so glad she didn’t remember the longest night ever. Jason reminds me that it only lasted about a half an hour but wow it seemed long!