Ah sleep. I have always been a lover of sleep. Back in high school and college when people would stay up all night to finish an assignment or watch television, I chose a different path. I chose to sleep. I have never been a party all night type of girl. Nope. I prefer to get a good 8-9 hours of sleep even if it means going to bed before all of the cool people. Nothing is quite as wonderful as the feeling of your head hitting the pillow. Or the times when your body can awake magically on its own without an alarm clock. I love a good night of sleep sooooo much. There is an episode of The Office where Kelly gets to choose between an hour of TV or an hour of sleep for her birthday. She selected the hour of sleep. Right choice.
Ironically as a child, I hated to sleep. When I was a toddler and my parents put me to bed I would stand in my crib and scream, "I'm not very happy in here!!!!" Then I was smart enough to figure out a way to wiggle out of my pajamas and diaper, not good for a kid that wasn't potty trained yet....my mom finally had to sew huge buttons on the back of my pajamas. If I knew then what I know now, I would have smiled sweetly and gone right to bed. Sorry mom and dad.
On our honeymoon I remember that Ryan turned to me after we'd been up late one night and said, "I'm so glad we're married now. We can stay up all night talking and getting to know each other better." My response: "Aww, you're so sweet. I'm going to go to sleep now." I love my husband dearly, but I know that if I don't get sleep I'm just no good. I get grumpier than a baby....
Enter Eva. I am thankful for all those years of stored up sleep because they have prepared me for this new era of sleep deprivation. I would use the typical, "I knew I would be tired but I didn't know I would be this tired" phrase but I would be lying. I knew I would be tired. Honestly, it was one of the things I feared most about being a new mom. I even considered the sleep deprivation aspect of parenthood before deciding that we were really ready to try to have a baby. I knew that sleeping in on Saturdays would become a distant memory. And yet, I decided to be a mama anyway.
To be fair to Eva, I have to say she sleeps very well for being only 17 days old. Her stomach is tiny so she has to eat often which means she must wake up more than I would like. Aside from a few times of terror, she gives us a good 4-5 hour stretch in the night. Sometimes when she wakes up too early (aka before the sun comes up) we are able to convince her to sleep a bit longer. Therefore I am not complaining. I literally thank God every morning after a decent night of sleep, though my definition of decent has shifted over the past 2 weeks. I know it could be a lot worse. I could have twins, or triplets, and then it would be even harder. I also have amazing family that comes over and lets me take a nap sometimes. Today my dad was here for 4 hours, 1 1/2 of which I got to nap for while he took care of her. My mom and mother in-law have also taken a few turns at helping out at night to give me a little break. I will be grateful for the sleep I get. I love my baby so much that it is worth it, even at 4 am. Hopefully one day sleep and I will become good companions again.
Ahhh! You're getting consistent chunks of 4-5 hours out of Eva already? That's so awesome. James will sleep that long, but not during the night hours…usually, it's from, like, 6-10 or so, and then he's up off and on all night. =/ Last night was the first time he's slept for a good chunk of hours—it was WONDERFUL!
ReplyDeleteWishing you even more sleep! :)
You sound like me. In college I was told I was no fun because I would rather go to bed at a decent hour than stay up all night. Eh. Who needs to be fun? I like to sleep! :)
ReplyDeleteSounds like you have a good sleeper on your hands and if you're very blessed she'll be sleeping mostly through the night in the next few months. I was so blessed with my first two - they were both sleeping through the night by 2 months. We'll see if I'm as lucky with Caedon...