You Lose
Important Note: This is NOT a message to future parents. I promised last week that my next message to future parents post would be positive. That's still in the works.
When you have an infant, you generally just want them to go to sleep. But not just sleep, you want them to sleep at the right times. When the kid wakes up at 4:00 am, you sigh, get up, tend to needs, try to get him/her to go back to sleep, then try to go back to sleep yourself. As I mentioned in my Sleep, Interrupted post, that's just how it goes. Your sleep will be disrupted, welcome to parenthood.
What is more annoying, however, is when the kid sleeps, but you keep yourself up. I asked the boy, I said "boy, please sleep until 6:00 am tomorrow." He pretended like he didn't hear me, but guess what he did? He slept until 6:15.
So what's the problem?
I STILL GOT UP AT 4. Then I think, is he ok? should I check on him? I nudge the wife. I turn up the baby monitor. Still don't hear much. I should go check on him. I have to go make sure he's OK, he's usually up. But I don't want to wake him up if he's sleeping. No, I'll let him sleep, I'm sure he's fine.
This internal dialog went on until approximately 6:15, when he woke up.
Either he wakes up and wakes me up, or he sleeps and wakes me up. There's no way to win.
Comments
cadiz12 said:
who are you kidding, omar? this is totally a mtfp. notes taken. fear level elevated. at least when i'm losing sleep now, i only have myself to blame.
jasmine said:
cadiz: i think omar does only have himself to blame.
Nadia said:
Omar, I feel that, as a direct result of your mtfp posts, I am bound to be the bestest mom ever. I feel fully prepared, theoretically. All I need now is some actual practice. Which brings me to my next point...
Is the boy for loan?
I said:
cadiz - No, this is definitely more of a complaint from a current parent than a mtfp.
jasmine - No, I still blame the boy for this one.
nadia - While there was a time when I would have considered loaning out the boy (renting, more accurately), I wouldn't do it now. Maybe I'll feel differently at 4:00 am tomorrow.
Glo said:
Poor you. While I don't lose sleep worrying about life or death, I can commiserate.
The train destroyed my ability to sleep. I now spring out of bed at 5 am even on the weekends, because I have to make the train...I hate that. I turned into my grandparents way too early.
RaJ said:
Omar - did you consider waking your wife and saying, "I can't sleep"? Wives really like it when husbands do fun, spontaneous stuff like that.
Sarah said:
My cat woke me up at 5:52AM this morning. The alarm was supposed to go off at 5:15AM, but the electricity died. However, if he didn't wake me up, I certainly wouldn't wake up and wonder why he wasn't meowing loudly in my face. I would sleep until the dogs woke me up at 6:05AM.
I said:
glo - You're basically ready for parenthood, then.
RaJ - Yes, my wife loves it when I wake her up in general. I could only imagine her delight if I woke her up to tell her that I can't sleep.
Sarah - Mmmm, sleep until 5:52...