Night Terrors and being repeatedly smacked in the face...

Since Sunday night, Jack has had 7 episodes of uncontrollable screaming - all in his sleep. Each time it happens it lasts at least 15 minutes. He just starts screaming out of nowhere - and won't stop. And he doesn't wake up. He's just screaming, crying and totally asleep. The freakiest thing is how his entire body shakes. It's almost like he's doing it on purpose because he's moving so much. It's like he's thrashing around in pain or something. When it happened the first time on Sunday night, I thought he WAS in pain and after about 25 minutes of non-stop screaming I was getting ready to take him to the ER. I was on my way to wake up Hope and get her in the car when it stopped. It happened two more times that night, but not as long as the first time. And because Kurt was out of town at the time, Hope wanted to sleep with Mommy. So I go stumbling back to bed so exhausted, and yet wide awake at the same time. Hope has moved her little body so that she is somehow occupying the entire queen-sized bed. I finally find a place in the bed that I can call my own - I take a deep breath and wait for merciful sleep to find me. I'm almost asleep and WHACK! Something smacks me dead on the nose. Hope. Apparently I had crossed over into her sleeping space or something and she was helping me understand that this was HER bed and I was merely a guest there. I think I slept about an hour over the whole night. Hopefully this explains the crankiness of my Monday morning post.

Last night - after having been awakened 4 times to deal with what seems to be a new Nightime Ritual for Jack - I was getting to my wit's end. Having gotten very little sleep the night before and then worked all day, I was so tired. I was sitting in the rocking chair with him on my lap facing me. There's a nightstand with a lamp to my left; I turn the lamp on and look at him. His eyes are shut and he's just thrashing around screaming. I decide I'm going to try and put him back in his bed and I reach over to turn the lamp off. It's one of those lamps with the switch on the cord. My hand slips and I flip the light off and then back on immediately. And then it happened. Instant - TOTAL silence. No more shaking, no more screaming. Jack is just sitting there on my lap. I can see his face because the hallway light is on and lighting his room pretty well. His eyes are wide open and he's just looking at me with this look that says "what are you doing in my room?". I told him that it was nigh-nigh time. Without a word, he flopped his head on my shoulder and was sound asleep. It didn't happen again after that.

Have I found a cure for his night terrors? Could it be as simple as flipping the lights on and off to kind of shock him out of dreamlike state? Oh I hope so... As for Hope beating me up? I'll take her smacking me in the face over Jack screaming in my face any day.