Night Terror?

Last night we got home late from our visit with Annabelle. Usually, we would have just put Gracie to bed right away, but because she got carsick on the way home, she needed a bath!  I know, ugh!  So by the time she was in bed, it was after 10:30. Putting her to bed late has never been a problem. Until last night, that is. It was the strangest experience I've had in awhile. 

We heard her crying in her room around 1:30. She doesn't do that often, but it's not terribly abnormal. Ryan went in to console her and returned after a minute or two. Usually, she calms down much faster than that, but he said he's not even sure she was awake. And she wouldn't tell him what was wrong. Then just a minute later she was crying again. This time I went in to give it a try and she totally looked awake. She was trying to stand up in her bed and crying and mumbling. So I picked her up and snuggled her, asking her what was wrong. She just stared at me and wouldn't answer. It sort of freaked me out. She's always so verbal, so this was totally out of character. After a few minutes of trying to get her to talk, I decided she probably wasn't awake.  I thought maybe waking her up would help her calm down so I carried her into the living room and turned on a light. She still seemed all confused and acted very strangely. Because I didn't know what else to do and because I was so so tired, I brought her into our bed so that I could keep an eye on her. It is the first time she's slept in bed with us since she was a newborn. That turned out to be a mistake because she flailed and mumbled for another 2-3 hours in our bed. No one got good rest!  Omgoodness, it was an awful, awful night's rest. 

This morning when she awoke in our bed, I asked her why she slept in Mommy and Daddy's bed. She had no clue and no recollection of any of it. So strange!

After googling 'night terrors' I'm pretty sure that's what she had. They say it's best to just try to console them, not wake them up, because waking them makes it worse and makes them scared and confused. Affirmative. I think that's what I accidentally did by taking her into the living room. They say it usually passes relatively quickly and the child resumes normal sleep. I sure hope so!  She actually did it again during her afternoon nap, but on a much lesser scale. I'm praying it doesn't happen again tonight. I don't like the feeling of helplessness. I could tell she was scared and was crying for help, but she couldn't see that we were right there with her.  It's probably how God feels when we take on our problems by ourselves. 

Anyway, here's my adorable munchkin... just because!