I have always enjoyed my sleep. I have always made sure to get 8 hours. I have always been cranky if I didn't get 8hr of sleep and breakfast within 20min of waking.
I have always....
Ohhh how I wish I could say I still get my 8hr of sleep. I guess there's a reason why maternity leave is so vital because I am worthless throughout the day. I have not gotten use to only getting 4 hours of interrupted sleep! 4 HOURS!! Come on....who functions clearly on that amount! Not this girl. The thing is, Cam is a pretty good sleeper too. It's the process that takes so much time.
I feed him b/w 9-10p and pump...put him down (which he fights until 1130-12)...I feed him at 2a.. (so let's see....12-2 ..2 hours of sleep- check).....I'm up feeding/pumping/getting him back to sleep until 3-330a and feed him again at 6...(so 330-6 ....2.5hr of sleep-check) then it's time to wake up and stay up at the 6a mark. Fortunately, I have nothing to do so I can take another nap b/w 6-9a but once maternity leave is over...so is that extra 2hr or so.
I am not sure how single mothers do it. There are nights I want to scream at Shannon. Cam is doing his restless best to fight going back to sleep after the 2am feeding and while I'm gently rubbing his back and rocking him from his room, I can hear Shannon snoring. I'm sure his 8hr of non-interrupted sleep is wonderful.
For example, the other night was one of those nights. I fed Cameron around 9:30p and finished the process of pumping, burping, diaper change and getting him to sleep. I carried him to his swing (which he's still sleeping in at night) and looked at the clock - 12:30a. UGGGG, I climbed into bed already dreading the sound of my alarm that is set for 2am. The sound came sooner than I wanted, I hastily climbed back out of bed to wake my little man to feed him. It's now 3am, he's back to sleep and I'm laying him in his swing (mind you Shannon is sleeping through all of this) when Kneesa's belly started growling and she wanted to go outside to eat grass. Instead, in the darkness of our bedroom, I hand pick the big pieces of the "good" dog food out of her bowl and lay it on the bed for her to eat. (We bought a new kind of Science Diet that she doesn't like so I mixed it with a yummy cheap brand from Kroger which she does like. Yes- my dog is high maintenance.) So here I am, exhausted from feeding Cam to only hand feed Kneesa afterwards. I believe it was close to 4-4:30a when I finally layed down awaiting the next joyful sound of that alarm. Now, don't get me wrong. I remember laying down at 4:30 thinking I couldn't be happier taking care of both of my babies, feeding them and satisfying their needs. I think I even smiled. But to feel the pure exhaustion the next day is frustrating at times. I can not function properly without an adequate amount of sleep and no amount of coffee can do the trick. When will I adjust to never getting good sleep again!? Aren't mothers suppose to magically adjust to the lack of sleep!? Maybe that magic mother fairy forgot to sprinkle the "no sleep" dust on my pillow.
I look forward to the day we get to drop the 2am feeding. I'm hoping at Cam's 2mo appointment the doc will say to drop that one......ohhhh "4" you are the ban of my existence right now. Please double soon and I might like you again.
Hang in there, I promise it gets better!! I know that you are pumping with each feeding to build up a supply, but maybe you could drop the nighttime pumping and get a little extra rest? I also used to "take a nap" after we ate dinner and Mike would hang-out with Anna ... I'd go up to bed around 8pm and sleep until she needed to eat again, somedays those were the best two hours of sleep I got ; )
ReplyDeleteJen said exactly what I was going to say, consider dropping that extra pumping session in the middle of the night. Your body can't function on so little sleep and it will ultimately effect you in more ways than just exhaustion. I know those first weeks are rough but it's crucial to find the time to sleep. Maybe you could have Shannon help out some too. Wes was a tremendous helper to me (and still is). At night, he would get the baby and bring him to me, I'd feed him, and then he'd lay him back down. Every little bit helps! I also basically went to bed at the same time he did. That basically shut off my social life but at the time I didn't care. Here's to a few uninterrupted hours of wonderful sleep!
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