A short synopsis of my problem:

When Rory was born, she was wonderful for about 4 weeks.  Then, massive colic set in.  

I don't mean she whined, or cried a little bit, I mean she screamed her head off 12 hours a day, starting when the sun went down and not calming until the sun came up.  We slung her, breastfed, tried to cosleep (she'd hit us, and would panic whenever we laid down with her).  If we put her in her room, in her crib, and shut both her door and our door, DH could sleep enough to function at work.  I'd try to rock her or soothe her, but she'd just scream louder, so eventually I would go outside onto our apartment patio (3 doors away)...where I could still hear her, and do homework (yeah, I was taking 3 classes and teaching one that semester because otherwise they were going to pull my scholarship).  

I'd sit out there and battle my lack of sleep and PPD wondering if the Union Pacific that ran right by our house was a fast enough train that if I jumped in front of it, it would all be over.  I never had the urge to hurt Rory, thank God, but thought about jumping off the roof a lot.  Was talking to my shrink and medicated, but in a 14 day period I was getting 16 hours of sleep.  Total.  I began to hallucinate.

More than a few times, a classmate of mine from the BUILDING ACROSS THE QUAD would make tea and head over to my balcony, because she could hear Rory in her apartment, and figured I could use the company.  It was a REALLY rough 5 months.  (It took until she was 1 for me to stop running for cover everytime she'd whimper...I'm still scarred emotionally over it.  And all those things infants do to make their parents not kill them?  Smiling, laughing, talking, cuddling?  She did NONE of those.  She never laughed, uttered not a word till nearly two, and it wasn't until she was 15 months old that I got my first hug).  It was a rough time

One night when she was 6 months old, I dropped her in her crib, turned on ACDC and left the room.  In a minute, she was fast asleep.  We'd tried all that before, but it seemed like she'd finally got all the screaming out of her system.  When I came in to check on her (thinking she was dead), she was quietly and contentedly sucking her thumb...out cold.  A pattern was born...when she got tired, she'd get weepy and fussy (and by a year, she'd walk to her crib and shake it), and we'd turn on music, plop her in bed and shut off the light.  Presto.  As long as we were away from her and music was playing, we could put her in a playpen and she'd sleep anywhere.

At 18 months, she figured out how to get out of her crib.  We've tried everything (toddler bed, higher rails, what have you) for the last 6 months, and we've had a few quiet weeks.  Now she's figured out the doorknob, and will leave her room, weeping, and get into the rest of the apartment in the dark.  The last two weeks (while DH has been working 70+ hours and leaving at 5 am), she's given up napping (I did mention I'd be fine with her sleeping with us, except she WON'T?  She'll climb on us and kick DH in fragile areas and will stand next to me and drop her head her whole 3 feet onto my face (she's bloodied my nose and loosened a tooth)...so that won't work).  She's only sleeping 4 hours (total) out of every 24...and that's when I just hold the door closed until she gives up and finds someplace to sleep:

Even Dh, who is normally so calm and patient, has resorted to yelling (as only a father can) at 2 am, and suggesting we just lock her in her room.  As soon as we move (soon, I hope), we'll have a twin bed with a 3/4 rail for her, DH will have normal working hours, and I'll have an enclosed backyard space to let her run her crazies out.  Our ped (whom I trust completely since she's saved DD's life) said she had gotten herself into a sleep deprivation cycle and to try one night with some infant Benadryl to see if it knocked her back into schedule.  Nope...she was still up till 11 THAT night, and has been a holy terror since.  I'm trying here, but dammit, I'm 5.5 months pregnant, and this is a bad as the first 4 months...except I can't even hide now, because she'll follow me.  Help me, please.  I need advice, encouragement, sympathy, something.  Of course, most of all I need sleep, but I'll take what I can.

What makes it all worse is that all y'all are all I've got.  DH works, since graduating my student-community has evaporated and I live in the ghetto of West Oakland.  There are whole weeks that I don't get to converse with an adult face-to-face (except DH).  Family is 500 miles away (although if we get the apartment I'm trying for, my brother will be living with us, which will be a blessing.  I mean, he's a video-game-loving 21 year old dork, but he does have a full grasp of the english language).  Isn't this why there used to be tribes?

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                                UPDATE

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Well ladies, it’s getting better.  Part of it has to do with the fact that DH got Yesterday, today (and Monday, YAY!) off, so we’ve got some extra time, but part of it has to do with actually getting her to sleep.  The problem DEFINITLEY isn’t solved (not by a long shot) but at least a few things are helping. (I did stop feeding her oatmeal as well, as per one piece of advice, until we can have her tested for allergies.  We DO have insurance, I just HATE ours, but we've already paid our individual out-of-pocket cap for her this year, so it'll even be free).

1. Putting a child-proof knob cover on the inside of her door.  Then I can walk to the kitchen and have a cup of tea when it’s "bed-time" without being tortured by her following me and screaming.

2. Jammies and teeth brushing.  Usually she was out or too cranky to really do either...they’re now MANDATORY...and she asks for the jammies.

3. Dh reading her a book (Bed, Bed, Bed by They Might Be Giants) while listening to the CD.  It gives her a calm 10 minutes in Papa’s lap.

4. I come in, turn on her night-time CD (Ben Lee’s Awake is the New Sleep strangely enough) and giver her a front and back massage with Trader Joes’ Lavender Body Oil.  She’ll call out "Oil!" and lays down on her tummy.

5. Do the massage for one song, tell her I love her, then get up, turn off the light, and leave.  She cries for a minute or two, sometimes even comes to the door and shakes it, then gets quiet and goes to sleep...

ON THE CHANGING TABLE!!!  @@  We have a changing table that’s built on top of a bureau.  She climbs the drawers, turns on the light, pulls her blankie up with her, lays down on the pad, sucks her thumb and goes to sleep.  We’ve check on her before we crash, and it’s been like this every night since we started the routine.

I don’t get it, but it’s rather cute.

Thank you all for your advice, sympathy and cyber-hugs.  I will still ask her pediatrician what the hell is wrong with her on the 12th, but at least I’m not thinking of buying earplugs and duct tape, right?