"People who say they sleep like a baby usually don't have one."

 ~Leo J. Burke

Isn’t that the truth?

Remembering back when my son was an infant, I thought I would never get to sleep through the night again and I still haven’t.

My 3 year old son gets up now to use the bathroom and he still wants me to go with him and then help cover him back up once he climbs back into bed. Sometimes it’s more than once, plus he’s an early riser.

Add to it that I cannot go to sleep till I know he’s asleep and is alright. I wait till he’s asleep and then I go in and check on him. Yes, I still check to make sure he’s still breathing. Even though I know he is not at risk for SIDS, I still like to make sure he’s alright before I go to bed. When does a mom outgrow this? Are we ever supposed to?

Even when the time comes where he doesn’t insist I go with him to the bathroom in the middle of the night, I’m sure I will awaken when I hear him up. And knowing me, I’ll sneak into his room later when he’s asleep to make sure he’s alright and to cover him up once again. I’m confident I will outgrow this by the time he is a teenager.

I decided to add to this post with an excerpt from my old post The Funny Side of living Without Sleep. It reflects how I felt at the time with the sleep deprivation. I’m sure that same old feeling will come around about the time my son starts to drive.

Here are some of the stupid things I do or forget to do when I am running on fumes. See if you can relate. Have you ever done this before?

While in the shower you can't remember if you just shampooed your hair or not. You look down at the bottle, you run your fingers through your hair, but you just can't remember. Now you are aggravated. You say to yourself, "Did I or didn't I? This is so stupid and I don't have time for this!!!" So you shampoo again. Now chances are you did the first time because we all do a routine in the shower and shampooing is usually one of the first things most people do, but you just flat can't remember. So you end up taking more time, use more water and run out of shampoo faster. However, you really are too tired to care anymore.

While driving to work you think of the horror stories of people wearing two different colored socks to work or worse, two different shoes! So you risk an accident by looking down to confirm that you not only have the same two pair of shoes on, but that your socks match too. The car slows down fast when you take your foot off of the accelerator to look doesn't it? Then you feel so stupid, but you are too tired to care.

Someone at work or at the store points out to you that a bird crapped on your shoulder and it ran down your back. You look over your shoulder and pull up on your shirt to have a look. Then you smile, thank them and walk away. You know the truth. The baby projectile device got you again, but you are too tired to care.

You stare at papers with writing or figures on them at work or at home for heaven knows how long until someone walks up to jerk you out of your stupor only for you to say, "huh?" You stare at them wondering what it is you’re looking at, why you are looking at it and what the heck were you supposed to do with it. But then again you just are too tired to care.

You forget how to spell the word, "the". You know it's a simple word. You're sure you have spelled it before, but for some reason it totally escapes you now and you are in awe of yourself and how stupid you are at the moment. You sit there, your brain reeling over the fact you can't remember it, wondering if maybe you are having a stroke, but you realize it's just lack of sleep. It eventually comes to you in an “a hah” moment and you are amazed at forgetting it in the first place, but you are too tired to care.

Drive a car to a destination and no recollection of the drive. Now that's scary. You can't remember if you stopped for that light or stop sign, etc. You do care about this one, but then again you are just grateful to have arrived so the caring thought is fleeting.

You wonder how long you can possibly last without sleep and you ask other parents around you if there is any end in sight. When they just laugh and walk away you know that didn't sound good, but hey, they are living proof you can live through it. I find it a privilege that I am a card carrying member of the new baby = lack of sleep club and I want to shout it from the roof top. But I know if I somehow miraculously had the energy to climb on the roof I would just lay down and take a nap instead.

Sweet dreams.

Julie

*For a good night's sleep try Gentle Sleep Complex
or you can ask someone to hit you over the head with a rubber mallet, but I think the Sleep Complex costs less.