All through the night

When Soren was a baby and needed lots of rocking and singing and nursing to fall asleep, I looked up the lyrics to a bunch of lullabies, since I was running out of songs to sing to him. I was struck by how depressing and harsh most were. They were in minor keys, and had lyrics about cradles falling out of trees, bribing with fairly large gifts (pretty horses? mockingbirds?), and mothers going away or toiling away in fields. But I rediscovered the Welsh lullaby All Through the Night, and the sweet melody and gentle lyrics were the perfect fit to lull my insomniac to sleep.

Sleep my child and peace attend thee,

All through the night

Guardian angels God will send thee,

All through the night;

Soft the drowsy hours are creeping,

Hill and vale in slumber sleeping,

I my loved ones' watch am keeping,

All through the night.

Angels watching, e'er around thee,

All through the night

Midnight slumber close surround thee,

All through the night

Soft the drowsy hours are creeping,

Hill and vale in slumber sleeping

I my loved ones' watch am keeping,

All through the night

While the moon her watch is keeping,

All through the night

While the weary world is sleeping,

All through the night

O'er thy spirit gently stealing,

Visions of delight revealing

Breathes a pure and holy feeling,

All through the night.

And now we're in the hospital for a 48-hour EEG. Two full nights of sleep. We need to see abnormal activity during sleep to be able to finally diagnose the rare disorder that we suspect Soren has (Landau Kleffner Syndrome). It would explain his complete loss of spoken language and even some regression in spoken language of late. We've had three EEGs before, none showing sleep disturbances, but the thought is that with two nights at the hospital, Soren might relax into a routine and achieve more typical sleep by the second night.

It's so hard for all of us: hours of boredom for a kid who doesn't play with toys; endless physical prodding that is so traumatic for our boy; change in routine, which is also so upsetting for him. Oh, and I get to sleep on a cot for two nights (on monitored night-vision camera no less).

Will you keep us in your thoughts and prayers? May peace attend him as we keep watch all through the night.