The fun never ends in the Madden household. Sam is going through another patch of sleepless nights. It’s impossible to get her down, and once we do get her to sleep she wakes up early and won’t settle again. She’s fussy, gassy, and uncomfortable and wants to nurse non-stop. All my usual methods of calming her to sleep don’t work during these times, and that leaves me scrambling to try and deal with the problem. To top it off, Cassie demands attention non-stop during the day and I can barely keep my eyes open. I’ve got to come up with a way to get Sam to sleep. I just can’t survive on four hours of sleep a night.
I hate being sleep deprived. The Army introduced me to the concept back in college, by forcing me to get up at the butt-crack of dawn and running me ragged until midnight or later every day. I particularly remember the six hellish weeks I spent at Camp All American at Fort Bragg where at times I subsisted on as little as two hours of sleep a night, and even that little amount of sleep was broken up into 15 minute snatches here and there. I recall sleeping while standing up, sleeping while marching, sleeping while running, sleeping while driving a tank (doesn’t that scare the crap out of you?), etc., etc. But that time of my life only lasted six weeks. I knew it would eventually come to an end. I have no idea when Sam’s sleepless nights will stop.
Being sleep deprived has left me feeling miserable. My eyes are as dry as the Gobi desert. In fact, the rest of me is pretty dry too. I can’t seem to stay hydrated no matter how much water I drink. My head aches all the time and my stomach hurts. My face is breaking out and my hair so tangled and matted it looks like a tumble weed rejected from the set of Gunsmoke for being too nasty to film.
Somehow, I’ve got to get through the day. I’ve got to take care of Sam and keep Cassie entertained. I am going to make the Herculean effort now to get out of the glider and go to the Y. Once I drop the kids off at the nursery there, perhaps I can snatch a few minutes of sleep on the treadmill.
It’s worth a try.
My first son slept through the night from a very early age. He was just never hungry. The new baby was completely different. At 4 months old, I went back to work and he was still waking me up every two hours, every night, all night long. My only salvation was that my husband lost his job and got up with him so I could sleep. It wasn’t until he was 5 months old that he started to sleep longer, and eventually through the night. During that time, we kept my older son in daycare all day. I don’t know how I would have managed!
One of my co-workers was so sleep deprived that she drove away from the gas station with the pump still in her gas tank. Luckily, it popped out and didn’t break off. This sleep deprivation is nothing to take lightly!
When Sam starts sleeping through the night, this will all seem like a distant dream!
Hmmm. I think it’ll seem more like a nightmare, one directed by Wes Craven, or maybe written by Steven King. Perhaps a post-Sandman Neil Gaiman graphic novel? Something creepy and horrific, at any rate.