A little Miracle

My little girl is the world's worst sleeper. She was born with her eyes wide open and hasn't closed them since (ok, she's closed them a little). It has made for a very grumpy baby, and the last 2 months haven't been easy with the lack of sleep. I know that all new parents are deprived of sleep, it's to be expected. But I was not prepared to have a newborn that only sleeps for 15 minutes before waking up screaming, and then is up for 12 straight hours and needing comfort. We've tried a million different things: white noise, shushing, rocking, dancing, a sling, the car, a walk,baby chiropractor, swaddling, dark rooms,the list goes on. We noticed that when she was swaddled she slept a little better (about 1 hour naps,followed by 6 of awake time woot woot)However, we have a little escape artist on our hands, and those little arms always seemed to pop out of the swaddle and bat around like crazy, keeping her from precious sleep. So anyway I found this so called "miracle blanket" from red castle, guaranteed to help the baby sleep. Because I am desperate, and because those infomercials at 3am are just so convincing, I bought one. 30 bucks for an itty bitty piece of cloth that looks more like a straight jacket then a swaddle. Anyways, I washed it and tried it on her last night. I put her down at about 9:30, fully expecting her to be awake by 11:30 as always. At 12:30 I thought I heard her, so I went to check. Nope, baby sound asleep. Hmm, strange, but ok, I went back to bed. At 2am, same thing. I was almost worried because she NEVER misses a feeding. At 3am, same thing, baby sound asleep. Now I'm starting to get a little frustrated because my chest was starting to look like the girls on a baywatch episode, and I couldn't sleep because I was so used to being awakened at least 5 times a night! At 4:30am I woke up again and went to check on her. And there I found my darling little Charlotte, eyes wide open and calm as a cucumber. She gave me the world's biggest smile. A SMILE. At 4:30 in the morning. After having not eaten for 8.5 hours. After having slept for 7. I took her and fed her while she cooed all the way. I swaddled her again after she was done eating, and she immediately fell asleep. Until 9:30 this morning. She practically slept 12 hours without any awake time! And at the end of it was all smiles and giggles! This is absolutely monumental!! Now not being the most optimistic person in the world, I think that she is either getting sick and needs to sleep, or that little blanket really is a miracle. I must add that it is now 11am and she is sleeping again... ;-)