Sleep? Who's getting sleep?

One of the many difficulties of adjusting to a newborn is accepting the loss in sleep. I was warned that breastfeeding hurt, I was warned about the endless poopy diapers. I was even informed that some babies experience colic. However, somebody left out the part where I wouldn't get more than two hours of sleep at once. This was a rude awakening for me when I had my first daughter. Luckily my husband worked the graveyard shift so it was only my sleep that was interrupted. I remember crying myself to sleep wishing my daughter could just keep the pacifier in her mouth if she wanted it so bad! And three years later I find myself in the same situation. Only this time my baby shares a room with her older sister. So this is the dilemma number 1: Do I put my baby in her room with her sister and have her wake her sister up, or do I keep her in my room with me and have her wake up my husband? It would make sense that I put her in her crib to share a room with her sister since my husband needs to sleep so he can function at work. However, the constant rush to her room so she doesn't wake up the whole house to put her binky in her mouth is more than irritating.

Then there is what I call the "teaser". My baby will give me one awesome night, say six hours of sleep. Then this night will be followed by nights where she wakes up every one to two hours. And let me tell you, even though I get a full 8-9 hours of sleep total, it only feels like two when I have to get up ten times in those eight hours. So here is dilemma number 2: How do I get those six hours nights to be consistent?

Many others who have breastfed their infants (and perhaps those who did not) might also admit to falling asleep while feeding their baby. You sit down with your infant, get them latched on, and then all of a sudden you are asleep and your baby is falling out of your arms. You look at the clock and you are not quite sure how much time has passed or when your baby stopped eating. Now some might not consider this a dilemma because at least you got some sleep while feeding your baby. But some might consider this dilemma number 3: How much did your baby really eat? This is detrimental because it determines when they will be getting up to feed again. Will it be an hour? A half hour? 3 hours?

At least when I was pregnant I could count on waking up every night at 3:00 A.M. to pee. Now my night's sleep is inconsistent and burdened by worries and concerns that will hopefully over time just sort themselves out. But here's to being a mother, because even though I can't remember my last full nights sleep I had, I wouldn't give my little angels up for anything. And so as every mother knows, the answer to most our dilemmas is to just suffer through it because it will get better... Hopefully.