I hope my child looks back on today, and remembers a Mum who had time to play
There will be years for cleaning and cooking, but children grow up when we are not looking
Cleaning and scrubbing can wait till tomorrow, cause babies grow fast, much to our sorrow
So settle down cobwebs, dust go to sleep, I'm cuddling my baby, and babies don't keep
(Song for a Fifth Child)

Saturday, February 19, 2011

S.L.E.E.P

S.L.E.E.P  (Sleep Loss Era, Exacerbated Postpartum)-- the period of time extending from first trimester until some future time I have not yet reached.

I'm fairly certain the topic of "sleep" has dominated 95% of all conversations since my first trimester. It's the baby equivalent of talking about the weather. I wasn't quite so candid when people told me I should sleep while I could. But let's be realistic:

During the  First Trimester, I found the bathroom tile to be only so comfortable and it seems by the time the perils of 1st tri wore off, I was in my 3rd trimester. I'm not sure what happened to the 2nd. And I would like to meet the 1-week-overdue-mom-to-be that can comfortably sleep. I would safely say I slept the most when June Bug was a newborn because he did "sleep like a baby".

But then the newborn stage fades away and infancy brings everyone's favorite question: "Is he sleeping..is he sleeping...is he sleeping?  If I dare say yes, he will invariably make a liar out of me and  if I say no I will receive copious amounts of advice a la:

a. you should put rice in his bottle...he won't take a bottle
b. you should give him a bottle....he won't take a bottle
c. you should give him rice cereal...it's a myth
d. you should...I have stopped listening

And when the nap-fighting ends and June Bug does succumb to sleep, I frantically race around doing the housework I swore I wouldn't do and lie awake at night planning the to-do list for tomorrow's naps mainly because I find A&E's Hoarders to be horrifying.  So even if June Bug is or isn't sleeping, Mama Bug most certainly isn't getting a ton of it.

Any volunteers to push me around in a stroller? I promise to fall asleep without any fuss.

While I wander off to find my own time for rest, here's June Bug "sleeping like a baby". 
Ahh, back when June bug would sleep anywhere, anyhow...

Rejecting the swaddle and earning the nickname Snuggle Bug

Still a Snuggle Bug, but also happy to sleep like a yogi in child's pose





2 comments:

  1. I know what you mean and my girls have actually been fairly decent sleepers since birth. BUT-they all go through their stages and we do not always have a peaceful night, mostly with Katelyn not Brianna. I always laugh when expectant parents (having their first child) or parents of a firstborn newborn will ask me when they start sleeping through the night. HA! Do you want the truth or a lie? The reality is that typically 6-8 hours is considered "sleeping through the night" and when they choose to sleep those hours is purely up to them. And they LOVE to tease you! UGH! And then they get sick or they are cutting a tooth or you went on vacation and screwed them up... the list goes on and on. I will say it definitely gets better with time but Katelyn still occasionally gets up and wants water or some comfort. Sigh........

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  2. @Tammy, I would like to meet the idiot who decided "5 hours" is sleeping-through-the-night. That wasn't enough sleep for me in my college days, much less now!!!

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