Silent Night, Holy Moly!

I've thought about posting about this topic before, but I can't remember actually doing it. So please forgive if this is a repeat. And if you have any information or comments, please let me know. ADVICE NEEDED.

Nathan usually wakes up a few times during the night and cries. His cry is a kind of half-hearted "heh-heh-heh-heh" kind of thing, and these days he's been throwing in a lot of "D's" as in "duh-duh-da-da-da-da-Duh-heh-heh." There are pauses as he listens to se if I'm coming, and usually when he sees me he starts jumping up and down.

But every few weeks he does something else. I hear him crying, but instead of the babbling, sleepy cry, it's a full out wail. It sounds like he is in pain, or really scared. He only pauses to take another deep breath and scream again. When I go in, he doesn't stand up or hold out his arms, because he's actually STILL ASLEEP. He doesn't react to my picking him up at all. He keeps crying. His body is limp. He doesn't even hold his head up so it lolls around as though he were a newborn. All this while he keeps screaming. I can rock him, hold him, kiss him, he still just screams. Tears roll down his face, but he just screams. Usually at this point I need to take him to a different room because I don't want Nick to wake up.

The thing is, Nathan is still asleep. He's screaming in his sleep. And it's really hard to wake him up. I shake him - NOT A LOT! Just a little "hey! Wake Up!" and nothing. I shine lights in his face. I call his name. I usually get Steve to help me because, first off, it's really kind of scary, and besides that, he has a louder voice and the kids usually wake RIGHT up when they hear his voice. But last night even Steve resorted to poking him and scratching the soles of Nate's feet.

Once Nate finally wakes up, after what seems like hours but is probably only five to ten minutes, he looks around, slightly confused. It's really obvious that he has just woken up and has no idea why he's in the basement, or out of bed, or why we're both looking at him that way. He falls right back asleep.

I don't really know what this is. I hesitate to name it. I don't know if it's just one of those things, or if it's indicative of something else (Is he stressed? Will he sleepwalk? Do this until he's 80?). Nicholas never did anything even remotely like this. I was planning on talking to Nate's doctor about it next visit, mid January. Has anyone heard of anything like this? Maybe it's normal and I'm just doing one of my overeacting acts? Or do you think it's something we should see the doctor for RIGHT AWAY?

On the bright side, other than Nate's 9:30 pm cry-fest, both boys slept right through the night... until 5:30, but whatever. I didn't get up to feed or rock Nate ONCE! SO today's Christmas Song is Silent NIght. How appropriate. Not to mention beautiful, classic, and "The Best Christmas Song Ever" according to... well, me.