C gains her independence from the swaddle....on independence day :]

From day one, I have always swaddled C at night.  If I tried to let her sleep without it, or waited too long to swaddle her, she became restless and irritable.  Translation: Total Meltdown.  Never failed.  There were several nights C and I both stayed up crying because I was no good at keeping the blankets swaddled tight enough.  Those were the nights X went out drinking until 5am or so... Unfortunately, he was the one who could swaddle her so well that she couldn't move anything except for her head.  And she loved it.  Went right to sleep every time.  [So, there, I just admitted that X did something right for our child.  Please don't hold it against me.]  Then a friend gave me a SwaddleMe that her son never liked.  Oh. My. Goodness. Lifesaver.  Especially since X decided to leave us...What in the world would I have done without a SwaddleMe and no one to swaddle her?  Many sleepless nights would have haunted me.. 
There were a few evenings that C and I went to visit family or friends and ended up staying too late. [Did I mention she is ready for bed by 9pm every night?]  On these nights, I wished C wasn't so attached to her swaddle...but then again, I'm not so sure C would have started sleeping through the night as well as she did without it..  Figured that in 18 years, I would be having to sneak into her dorm room in the middle of the night to swaddle her.  And then she scared the shit out of me.
I woke up one morning to her talking to herself over the monitor.  Nothing new.  It's my alarm clock.  Makes me smile every time.  I laid there for a few minutes listening to her carry on a conversation and giggling at her as I rubbed my eyes.  Forced myself out of bed and into her room to get her from the crib.  My heart dropped.  She had flipped herself over onto her stomach and was lifting her neck up trying to look around.  After I calmed myself down and she was giggling at me, I realized she must have turned over after waking up.  At least that's what I tell myself anyway.  But right then, I knew it was time to get rid of the swaddle.  But how the hell can I do that when she has meltdowns without it?!
The first night, I tried leaving it a little loose so she could get out if she wanted to or if she flipped over, her arms could come free.  Didn't work.  Five minutes after I laid the sleeping C in the crib, I heard her moving around.  Walked in to see her on the other side of the crib on all fours, starring at me.  No good, hadn't lowered the crib mattress yet.  Back to swaddling.
The night of July 4th, C, some friends and their baby, and I went to see some fireworks.  She fell asleep in the car and when I brought her in and laid her on the bed to change her, she fell asleep again.  So I decided it would be the perfect way to try a swaddle free night.  She woke up about an hour later, I fed her and she went right back to sleep.  She slept through the night, waking up at 6am.  I can deal with that.  So Night #2, I tried again. She woke up twice, going right back to sleep with some Mommy Love, waking up at 6:30am. 
Last night was Night #3.  Didn't go as smoothly, but it wasn't terrible either.  She woke up about 20 minutes after I put her down.  Then again around 11:30.  Then at 3am, and at 6:40am.  When she got up at 6:40am, I put her in bed with me, fed her and she went right back to sleep...Woke me up at 9:30!!  I was stunned.  Did I seriously just sleep passed 7am, with a BABY?!  I could deal with that.  Hopefully by the end of summer, she will have adjusted to not being swaddled and be back on her regular sleep schedule.  Until then, I will enjoy cuddling with my baby girl when she wakes up in the middle of the night.