I used to think my child’s night terror episodes were heartbreaking. That was before I heard my husband’s.

A few months ago, my husband and I welcomed a beautiful baby boy named Jacob into the world. He was perfect in every way, and we couldn’t be happier as a family. He slept through the night almost from the beginning, which left us with plenty of free time to enjoy our lives together.<br><br>I was an extremely light sleeper while Jacob was an infant. I was always terrified that he would turn blue in the middle of the night and not make a sound, so whenever I heard him make the smallest noise I would go check on him. I was expecting to find out that he was dead one of those nights and it would all be my fault for not checking in on him sooner.<br><br>One night I was awoken by the sound of Jacob crying and I immediately jumped out of bed and went to check in on him. But when I entered his nursery, I saw that he was actually laughing. I don’t know if it was just a weird reflex or if he was actually happy about something, but for some reason Jacob was laughing like crazy. This was a bit of a red flag for me, as I had read horror stories about babies not being able to laugh until they were 4 months old, or some bullshit like that. Jacob was only 2 months at the time, so I wasn’t sure how to react.<br><br>Just as I was about to go back to bed, my husband came into the nursery and started laughing. He picked up Jacob and took him back to our bedroom with me following behind them. We hopped into bed, held Jacob in between us, and eventually fell back asleep.<br><br>The next few nights went on as usual, with Jacob sleeping soundly and not making a peep. But things started to take a turn for the worse when Jacob was about 5 months old. He started waking up in the middle of the night, and it sounded like he was in a lot of pain. It was obvious that Jacob had night terror episodes.<br><br>Every night, I would hear Jacob crying and screaming at around 2:00 am. His wails were extremely loud and filled with what sounded like genuine horror. I could hear him thrashing and kicking his legs while he cried, but he would always eventually calm down after a few minutes and fall back asleep. Every night, I would go and check on Jacob after hearing him cry and make sure that he was ok. I would pick him up, give him a kiss, and make sure he wasn’t hurt.<br><br>I was extremely heartbroken that Jacob had to go through these night terror episodes. I couldn’t imagine what was going through his mind whenever he would have these episodes. I couldn’t imagine what kind of twisted, demonic creatures Jacob would see lurking in the shadows when the lights went out. It was a sad sight to see, and I felt terrible that I couldn’t do anything to help him. I just gave Jacob a hug and a kiss, then put him back in his bed and went back to sleep.<br><br>I stopped checking on Jacob after I caught my husband sleeping in his bed one night. It was around 3:00 am when I entered the nursery in a daze to check on Jacob and stopped dead in my tracks after seeing my husband sleeping in his bed. Jacob was sitting up and had his arms wrapped around my husband’s waist. For some reason, Jacob wasn’t crying. He was just staring off into space. When I saw my husband sleeping in Jacob’s bed, my heart stopped and I felt my blood run cold. I quietly turned around and went back to bed, trying not to make a sound. <br><br>I never mentioned it to my husband. I didn’t see a point in telling him what I saw. I felt that it was none of my business, so I kept it to myself. But I never went back to checking on Jacob at night after that. I just went back to sleep and hoped that he would eventually grow out of his night terror episodes.<br><br>I never heard Jacob cry or scream again after I saw my husband in his nursery. He slept like a rock from that night on, and I was happy that he could get some rest. I had Jacob checked up on by a few different doctors and they each told me that his night terrors had simply ceased to exist. They each gave me a confused look when I told them that my son hadn’t had a night terror episode in weeks, as if they had no idea why that was. I stopped taking Jacob in for check-ups after that, because I felt like there was no reason to continue to have him looked at if his night terror episodes had ceased to exist.<br><br>One night, I was awoken in the middle of the night to the sound of my husband crying and screaming hysterically. His screams were loud and blood-curdling, and I could feel his fear as if it was my own. I didn’t get out of bed to check on him. I just lay there and listened as he cried and thrashed about. I was heartbroken that my husband had to go through these night terror episodes, but there was nothing I could do to stop it.<br><br>I knew that Jacob would be there to comfort my husband in his time of need.