31 Mar
I’m experiencing temporary insanity. The culprit is a twenty pound tyrant who has been hounding me for three straight nights. Have I dealt constructively with the challenge?
Not quite…
I’ve consumed approximately one pound of cookie dough and a third of a chocolate bar. She’s been crying off and on for forty five minutes and I’m trying to block it out while typing this. Despite diaper changes, temperature adjustments, teething tablets, soothing songs and her total lack of sleep over the past two days, she seems to be up for the challenge of a good wail for hours to come.
On top of that, my three year old didn’t nap today and was having constant meltdowns all afternoon that coincided perfectly with the baby’s hysteria. Did they concoct this torture plan ahead of time?
No—the truth is it’s all my fault. I wanted a dishwasher. For the last two miserable nights we’ve been visiting my mother because our kitchen is being torn apart and remodeled. My baby, who normally slumbers in her crib pretty well, reminds me at regular hourly intervals that she’s not happy with the transition. On top of that my three year old isn’t napping well, nor is he coping with being away from home. Neither am I.
At times like these, when my very bones ache with exhaustion, I’m not so chipper about hanging out the laundry or blending up homemade baby food. ( or EVER traveling ANYWHERE again!) So—honestly, I have to say that for me sleep is an essential part of being a good parent and a greener parent.
Did you end up traveling anywhere with baby for spring break? Did you experience the same nocturnal misery? I sincerely hope you didn’t!
4 Responses for "Post Partum Exhaustion and Coping with Less Sleep"
I’m SO sorry Joy! We went yurt camping for 2 days the week before spring break… with our 1 1/2 year old and 3 1/2 year old boys.
It went OK – getting them to go to sleep was a REAL challenge and trying to stay quiet and dark enough to not wake them up was the major challenge in a 15′ around yurt in the pouring rain. So my husband and I gave up and went to bed as well (we were pretty exhausted). Then, when Mr. 3 1/2 year old was up at 5:AM, I had to figure out something to do to keep him from waking up his brother, so we headed to the showers and spent an hour in the process of trying to shower at a campground in the early morning dark.
It also rained most of the time we were there, so we ended up trying to do as many indoor activities we could think of while at the Oregon Coast (ha, ha) – we went to the Aquarium (luckily we have a membership that was given to us by Grandparents) and drove to the cheese factory in Tillamook and braved a couple meals in restaurants that had real menus and no play area.
Oh – and did I mention that both the kids are hard core potty training, so that was a REAL fun aspect of driving for hours at a time and staying in a yurt 400 yards fromt he nearest toilet (we brought our potty… but then one still has to disopse of the contents regularly).
My husband and I decided we either need to go a LOT more often… or NEVER EVER again. LOL!
May your kitchen is done in record time and may you get a lot of chocolate in your Easter basket!
I hate to hear this. We traveled twice over the Christmas break and both times my daughter made it known that the pack-n-play and grandad’s old crib was not sufficient. It made the holidays a little more stressful and difficult, but it was over when it was over! When she’s back in her own environment life will return to “normal”. Try to remember this through the screaming!
We were up for hours every night with a wailing toddler when we stayed with relatives last Christmas. Never figured out why. And, yes, I was pregnant and feeling seriously ill all the time. It also took three plane changes for us to get home (on a direct flight) because of mechanical failures/ice/etc. I hate traveling with children. HATE.
Oh the memories. We made the grand European tour to visit the relatives last summer — we visited 3 countries, stayed at 7 different households, and took more planes, trains, and automobiles than I can count. All with my 1.5 year old. We also moved 3 weeks before we left on the trip. The worst part, though, was the jet-lag coming back. I shudder remembering it. Never, ever again.
I wish you luck coping in the next days. It is so hard to function when you’re tired. Just imagine how wonderful the new dishwasher will be. I certainly wouldn’t enjoy it, but I’d definitely go through a finite time of sleep deprivation to get a dishwasher.
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