Roll the dice and...another bad night

There seems to be no rhyme or reason to Charlotte's bad nights. At the moment I can't predict which night will be bad (the days don't give a clue) nor what the reason is (probably the most frustrating part). The night before last she was settled for a while after we put her to bed, then something kicked her off and that was the end of it. We brought her out to the loungeroom and she fell asleep in our arms. Mainly so Lily could get to sleep (she used to sleep through anything but Charlotte is loud).

Last night Charlotte woke just before midnight (we hadn't long gone to bed) so I got her up and held her in the loungeroom. I need a distraction so I watched tv. This doesn't normally make a difference as C will fall asleep regardless. Just before 1am she was still awake and then Lily started screaming. She was thrashing around in bed and really upset. Rare for her. Eventually she was able to tell me her ear hurt. So I gave her some Advil and brought her out onto the couch while the drug kicked in. Poor kid.

I put them both back to bed at 2.10am (amazingly they were both still awake) and went to bed. Charlotte woke up within minutes so I was up with her briefly till I eventually was able to go to bed at 2.35am. Not a good time to be going to bed.

I am at a loss to know what bothers Charlotte - teeth? mozzie bites? excema? or god forbid, it's purely behavioural and we have created a sleeping nightmare situation. Please not that.

Lily slept but this morning she said her ear still hurt so I was able to get her an 11.30am appointment with Dr C. Who diagnosed an ear infection, not surprisingly. Possibly viral and possibly caused by the swimming. I have a prescription for antiobiotics, only to be filled if the pain gets worse. Otherwise Advil three times a day. And we go back for a follow up appt on Friday. And no swimming lesson this Friday.

Two bits of Lily trivia - today was Lily's first day home sick from school. And when Dr C was looking through Lily's medical notes she couldn't see anywhere where she'd had antibiotics before. Dr thought this was amazing, especially in relation to the difference to Charlotte.