It Was a Long Long Long Long Night (And Day)

Last night was tough. I thought I had it all laid out nicely - she was tired, fell asleep at seven-ish, and we put her in the room where she slept till nine-ish. Then we fed her and put her back to bed, playing her lullabies. At around midnight, we woke her for the last feed of the night, and it was hoped that she would sleep for at least another 3, hopefully 4-5 more hours.

But she woke up at 1.30am. I nursed her and changed her diapers, then nursed her somemore and changed her diapers again (she has a bit of a bug going on right now). One hour later, I put her down and thought: this ought to hold her till at least 4am, if not 5.

I was wrong. She woke up barely an hour later, crying again and screaming at the top of her voice. This time she nursed for only a short while before falling back to sleep. The memory's fuzzy, but I think there was another diaper change at this time for the littlest squirt of poo. By this point in time I was delirious with exhaustion. While she was peaceful, I was making whimpering noises, perspiring though the fan was on at full speed. WHAT WAS WRONG WITH BABY K AND WHAT DID I HAVE TO DO TO GET SOME SLEEP??? I was totally fine waking up a couple of times every night to feed her and/or change her diapers, but this was bonkers. At this rate I wouldn't be able to function the next day.

Meanwhile, The Hubbers slept sweetly, oblivous to my pain. At one point I recall throwing my breast pad at him in frustration, upset that I had to go through this alone while he slept soundly on. I watched as the breast pad slipped down his tee in sulky rebellion, Sigh. I had to remind myself that this man needed to work the next day, all the while fighting back the urge to kick him.

But he did wake up eventually, when I was giving Baby K her latest diaper change. "Do you need the pacifier?"

"Ok, that might help. Could you help me get it from the steriliser?"

I looked at him. He had lain down and gone back to sleep.

!!!!

"I said go get it for me, not go back to sleep." I thought he wouldn't hear me, but it worked. Moments later he stirred, and left the room to get me the pacifier. (Which was left unutilised for the rest of the night, oops.)

He did help me out in something though, which was to swaddle her - he's excellent at swaddling - which enabled us to sleep for another 3 hours (finally!) undisturbed.

Unfortunately, the fitful sleeping was not so much carried over into daytime as it was mutated into complete and utter wakefulness.I had my hands full taking care of her. Basic acts of human sanitation like washing my face and going to the loo became irrelevant. Thankfully, she was kind enough to allow me to finish off my lunch - did I mention that was at 6pm? Minor detail.

At one point in time I was so beat that I carried her into the bedroom and told her "Mummy's going to get some rest." And crashed. Surprisingly, she just lay there and entertained herself for a good 40 minutes. Exceedingly kind of her. Honestly though, that nap was just what I needed to give her her bath, have the resolve to get her to sleep, and get some much needed chores done.

Will she continue her kindness towards me tonight? I sure hope so. I really do.