Re-visiting our sleeping arrangements.

Sleeping with our precious baby has been one of the most rewarding parenting experiences, ever.  Especially since we are both working full-time, it has allowed us to be able to reconnect with our little snuggle each day after work.  In the early days, it really was a life-saver and I was able to get pretty decent nights of sleep, even waking 3, 4, or more times a night to breastfeed.  Although I would wake up, I wouldn't ever have to get up if Olivia was just an arms reach away, and many more times than not, Dave wouldn't wake up at all.   I also feel like I have been able to have such a smooth and successful breastfeeding relationship as a full-time working mom, because we co-sleep. 

So it has all been very nice for us, and happened out of trial and error, and realizing this was what worked best for our family. 
Well, last night for the first time ever, Olivia fell off of the bed in the middle of the night.  I still feel terrible about it, and I have no idea how it happened because usually she is pretty contained between the two of us, and pillows at the foot of the bed.  Thank goodness Olivia was not injured at all, and she just cried for a short time before nursing and then going back to sleep.  I was a nervous wreck though, and stayed up for a couple of hours after the fall, just to make sure she was okay, and was continuing to breath.

So now it's time to consider how to prevent this from happening again.  Although she has been mobile for many months now, she isn't particulary squirmy in the middle of the night.  It's usually quite the opposite, she will somehow link her little arms or legs around my arms or legs and stay latched and fastened pretty tightly.  I just don't want her to ever take a tumble from our bed in the middle of the night like that again. 

There are a couple of options for us.  We can take our bed off of the frame, and that would lower it closer to the ground, considerably.  Or we can attempt to make her crib, which is currently being used as a very beautiful and expensive laundry hamper in her room, into a co-sleeper to our bed.    I have seen this done here on this page, and I would love to try this first. 

Olivia is still nursing throughout the night, which I'm completely fine with, but I figured the co-sleeper crib thingy idea would be a great baby step sort of transition for when she is no longer nursing at night.   I'm anxious about this very little change as I usually am about most changes.  I'm just hoping it solves the rolling out of bed "problem", while continuing to allow us to have the benefits of our bed sharing relationship.  Wish me luck!