Scary Moment As a Parent

Kristen and I had a brief scare with Gilbert on Friday night.

We put Gilbert to sleep, enjoyed the rest of our evening and went to bed. Somewhat restless, Gilbert moves often in his sleep. Conditioned to wake up in the middle of the night, I awoke around 3am and refreshed my water glass. Back in bed, Kristen awoke and checked the video monitor. She asked for me to check on him.

Background. Kristen has always felt as if Gilbert stops breathing when he sleeps and then starts back up, of course, when necessary. Obviously, this is not true, but I must admit I've checked in on him at night, put my ear to his nose and not heard or felt him breathing. Obviously he is. Perhaps this is some sort of phenomena, probably should do some research on it.

Anyway, I looked in on him and I couldn't hear him breathe. I lifted an arm (typical reaction is to pull it in to his body). It fell limp. Did the other arm. Same reaction. Now I'm getting worried. I rip off the blanket and no reaction. Now, I'm scared. I reach for Gilbert and jerk him out of his crib and up and into my body. No immediate reaction. By this time, Kristen has come into the room having watched through the monitor. I make some quick movements with him and Gilbert finally opens his eyes. He is not happy being woken from an incredibly deep slumber. My heart was pounding hard. Felt like it might jump out of my chest.

I have never seen Gilbert sleep so hard. Even when he was a baby, he'd react to movements or changes in his immediate environment. I should have realized all was fine when I picked him up, because his body was stiff as opposed to being limp.

However, in the moment all I cared about was seeing those eyes opened. After we all calmed down and finally got Gilbert back to sleep - I'd be pissed to if I was jerked awake during a deep sleep - we went back to bed, but it was difficult.

Any of you ever have something like this occur?