Category: Eve

No, not that…I’m talking about sleep!

I know it’s a cliché and I was willing to clock those who made comments towards the end of my pregnancy about “getting used to sleepless nights heh heh” but I had no idea what sleep deprivation could do to a person. Eve is a couple of weeks shy of her first birthday and the night before last was the very first time she has slept through the night without waking once. I was afraid it might be a cruel fluke so I said nothing but then she slept through again last night so (touch wood) this might be the start of something wonderful.

For most of her year Eve hasn’t been an occasional waker either. More nights than not she woke every hour on the hour demanding to be fed and I would drag myself into her room, feed her, put her back down and crawl back to bed to sleep for 45 minutes before repeating the cycle. At the beginning I remember thinking I couldn’t do it but I didn’t know how I could get out of it, no one else could feed her and that’s all she wanted. In the wee hours I would often plan my escape from motherhood as I slumped in the feeding chair with this mini-torturer clamped to my boob. If I could just have one night I thought it would be ok, if I could just catch up a bit on my sleep debt. Usually just when I was on the verge of collapse she’d deign to permit me 3 or 4 hours on the trot and the next day it would be enough to stop me running out the door and not looking back.

The worst nights were when I wouldn’t be able to tell you how many times exactly I’d been up during the night, I’d startle awake in my bed thinking I was still in the chair and not knowing where she was. I’d get up, feed her, put her back down, all while still semi-conscious, how I didn’t fall down the stairs (again) or try to put her to sleep in the cupboard I don’t know. For the longest time I truly thought this wasn’t going to get better. Anyone else I spoke to with a baby Eve’s age told me that their little Sleeping Beauties put themselves to bed at 7:30 and didn’t wake for 12 hours. I thought I’d been given a baby insomniac and I’d have to wait until she was in school before I’d ever see an 8 hour night again.

Well, I’m here to tell any poor unfortunate who’s going through the same that it will happen. One of these nights your little darling will finally figure it out and sleep the night through. Now of course I have to train myself not to wake at 4am and lie listening to the monitor wondering if I should just poke my head in there and check…

Julie at “A Little Pregnant” has this post up about a recent gaffe she committed with her wee one. Judging by the 2oo+ confessions/comments it seems she’s not the only one with a guilty story of neglect.

When I committed my own personal “boner” as she calls it, I felt so bad I was almost calling social services to turn myself in until every single parent I tearfully admitted it to snorted and told me their own stories. It’s official: if you haven’t dropped/forgotten/set fire to your new baby yet it will happen. It’s like an initiation into the world of parenting.

So, here’s my story, just in case you’ve just left your newborn in the frozen food section of your local supermarket and need some reassurance:

Eve was 3 months old and I was racing around getting ready to go out to my Pilates class (my only form of social interaction with people my own age at the time) so I had my bag over my shoulder, my water bottle tucked under one arm and Eve on the other. The stairs in our house are very narrow and steep and I was barrelling down them because I was, as always, late. Somewhere around the 4th or 5th step from the bottom my ankle twisted underneath me and I crashed forward down the stairs, bag, bottle and baby all sent flying through the air. Eve hit the wall right at the doorway of the kitchen and the hallway (I’m not sure if she hit it straight or if she got the corner…I don’t like to think about that it makes me feel a bit woozy still) and landed hard on the laminate floor.

The next few seconds were the worst of my life because she just lay there, face down on the ground, not moving not making a sound. My husband who had heard the commotion leaped from the living room and scooped her up. Still no crying. I was sitting at the bottom of the stairs unable to move thinking I’d broken my ankle but not caring. Finally Eve started crying but it wasn’t her usual cry, it was more of a strangled whining noise. Matt ran out the door and into our neighbour’s house and got him to drive them to the hospital. I was left to shuffle myself to the phone to ring my mum and have her come and get me.

It all worked out fine though. Eve spent the night in the hospital for observation but she had only been winded and we couldn’t even find the bump on her head the next day. I’d sprained my ankle and had to use crutches for a couple of weeks (not easy with a baby let me tell you) but neither of us were the worse for wear. Well, other than the mental scars I’ll have for the rest of my life.

Now the things I wish I’d never wasted my cash on:

Things I’m glad I bought for Eve that made this year a lot easier:

Toy Story