Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Sleep

Everyone says that as a new parent, sleep is a luxury.  Well, the first few weeks when L was in the NICU, as soon as our heads hit the pillow, we were out cold for the night.  We'd normally get about 6-8 hours of sleep.  I wish I could say it felt good - but I felt incredibly worn out, exhausted.  I was mentally exhausted and overwhelmed with the ups and downs that go along with a NICU stay.

Then we brought her home.  And HOLY CRAP that was overwhelming.  The first night we were at the kitchen table, eating something we could come up with at 9pm, and we looked at each other and said "maybe bringing her home isn't the right thing."  I was scared to say those words out loud.  But the medical care she requires takes some getting used to.  Heck, it's been almost 4 weeks and I'm still getting the hang of it.

I'm afraid to say this for fear of jinxing things...but our baby sleeps for about 8-10 hours per night...straight through.  Yes, there has been a night or two that she goes to sleep much later or something.  Or maybe she wakes up occasionally with a little whining for a few minutes.  I guess God thought we have enough on our plates with her medically, that he'd at least give us a baby who likes to sleep well at night. 

Now that we've eliminated the 3am medication, we are able to sleep from 12-6am.  We hook her up to her feeding pump (for those of you who don't know, she has a g-tube in her belly for feedings) and she gets a continuous feed throughout the night.  The plus side is that we don't have to wake up to feed her.

The funny thing is...I'm still exhausted.  I can barely get up in the morning.  Ian takes the 6am duty of giving her meds and changing her diaper.  I'm able to sleep through most of that (except for this).  So I finally get up when L does - anywhere from 8-10am.  And during the day, if there are even a few minutes when she's sleeping when I do not have to pump or eat, I quickly lay down wherever I can manage and close my eyes.  So maybe this is the exhaustion?

How do you balance pumping, eating, showering (gosh, I don't even remember the last time I showered...ewwwww), etc. with your baby's schedule?

And now that I've written about this, surely she will want to party all night tonight.

1 comment:

  1. You have been through war. Honestly, I would expect that it will take a few more weeks to get your footing again. You are managing more than most parents of a newborn and on top of all of her regular and medical needs you have anxiety and stress in there too. The first few months are insane, adjusting to your new "normal" and not even 20 hours of sleep will wipe away the exhaustion for a little while.

    I always found that bringing the baby into the bathroom in the car carrier while I showered helped (When I even had the energy to shower and all of that! lol)

    Do you cook? If you took a day, perhaps Sunday, and made up 3 or 4 casseroles and put them in the freezer that would help you get ahead a bit in the food area. Take out can be your friend too! ha!

    You are doing a great job! And really, showering is overrated! hehehe

    Mindy

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