It’s 7:15 am, and I am awake by myself once again. For the last few days, the Bean and I have
been sick. It started, as far as I can
tell, from a low-grade baby ear infection that caused us all to lose some
sleep. I started sniffling- the
beginnings of a cold. Before I knew it,
things had spun out of control with alarm clocks beeping at all hours for
antibiotic drops and nasal spray, me nodding off in language class every
morning, head congestion that wouldn’t let me rest, a snotty baby that woke me
up every time I started drifting off, and way too much infant ibuprofen and
Tylenol being spouted all over the place.
Last night at 3 am, as the Bean snorted and cried, the Daddy
and I finally remembered to pull out THE SNOT-SUCKER! Why did we not think of it before? The highly-reviewed, albeit somewhat gross,
nasal aspirator given to us by my new sister-in-law. Within a few minutes, the Bean was protesting
wildly as we put a plastic tube in her nose and pulled out all her yucky boogies. It took some time to settle after that, but
she has slept better than she has all week.
And, much to my surprise, she went to sleep without much need for
nursing- she just wanted to be snuggled close.
My body, on the other hand, took the opportunity available
for a good solid chunk of sleep and decided to present me, for the rest of the
night, with a persistent hacking cough and multiple trips to the restroom. It seems that either I or the Bean gets to
sleep. You can’t win them all.
I read this article online this morning, while I was very
much awake and wondering how many years have been removed from my life
expectancy in the last ten months.
Apparently, the 8 hour sleep gold-standard is somewhat of a myth, in
that it’s more important to get pockets of quality sleep throughout the day
than it is to get a long, unbroken chunk.
This is good news to me; naps are not just a cheap substitute for night
sleep. Add to this, the research` that
co-sleeping moms do wake more frequently but also get better quality sleep
overall than those whose babies sleep in separate rooms.
I am feeling better about my life this morning as I drink my
tea. My plan today is a pediatrician visit, lots of rehydration for me and
baby, and a drop in to our kind neighbor who sent her grandson over with a
boiling hot pot of chicken soup the other day.
But mostly importantly, even more important than that lacto-fermented
salsa I’ve been waiting to make? I am
getting a nap!
1 comment:
Oh no! I hope you're on the mend soon. Being a mom brings sickness to an entirely new level because you still have another human totally dependent on you. I caught some weird 24-hour bug yesterday and was pretty miserable. I'm glad it's over.
Elise actually likes the nosefrida. She used to despise it as a newborn but now she thinks it's hilarious. In fact, she tries to "help" by sniffing right she sees us bringing out the nosefrida. It's hilarious. She'll sniff AS we're sucking, thereby reversing the whole process.
As for the co-sleeping thing, my sleep is precisely the reason why we're still doing it. I don't have any philosophical convictions about it like you do...it's just totally pragmatic for me. I need my sleep and I don't want to get up to another room to calm a crying baby! :)
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