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Thursday, June 10, 2010

Sleep....I Need Sleeeeeeep

I have heard that sleep deprivation is a form of torture.
Why?
I'll tell you why...
Ah, oh, hang on...
No, I can't remember.
Every parent at some stage knows about sleep deprivation.
I discovered the joys of 'it' on my second only night of motherhood.
My baby was awake and crying in the middle of the night in hospital and would not feed.
My poor body and mind was in shock, I was shivering uncontrollably and thinking, "When am I supposed to get some sleep??"
Well, I can answer myself now....
Not for years and years and years!
Of course it's not that bad for that long.
Just a couple of years per baby (with my two anyhow) and then some semblance of a normal sleep pattern returns, on most nights.

Except last night!

The vomiting bug that has been floating around hit my five year old boy at 2:10 last night.
Fortunately as soon as he said the words 'tummy' and 'sick' I ran for a bucket and held it under his face just in time...no changing necessary.
This was after I had already been up at 1:20am to get a bottle for my two year old (this is still a pretty regular night time activity, and getting up ONCE I can handle).
So, as the two year old is now in my bed, after cleaning up after the five year old, I go to sleep in her bed, which is closer to Mr Sick.
2:40am I hear, "Mummy" in that tone that means "I'm about to be sick again".
So I run (I never run) back to his room, and got the bucket there almost in time. Fortunately the 'miss' only  hit a pillow and top blanket, so again, no changing necessary.
Back to bed, in the two year old's bed...
3am the two year old is calling out (yes, she is in bed with her father but I am still the one to get up), I get up running (again) for another bucket.  She doesn't appear to need it. Maybe she's just having bad dreams.
3:10am my boy calls again, fortunately I am still up, and running AGAIN to his room. I am getting good with this bucket timing!
This time I decide to go back to sleep on the couch, closer again to Mr Sick.
I don't know what the hell the time is now but I hear the two year old again, I RUN (I have never done so much running in my life) to her, again she's fine...just dreaming.
Back to the couch!
4:something am the five year old calls, I run (I don't know how good all this jump-starting is for my heart), he says, "Sorry Mum, I'm not sick, I can't remember why I called."
BACK TO THE COUCH!
5:bloodysomething am Mr Sick calls AGAIN....and AGAIN just to tell me he is NOT sick!!
6:something am my husband is up getting ready for work.
6:30am my five year old is up, telly on, sharing the couch.
6:45am my two year old is up and whinging.
And...the day begins......

Now, what was I saying?
Was I saying something??

13 comments:

  1. So what you are saying is now would be a good time to weasel some cash from you?

    Mate, hope tonight is better and you get some makeup sleep x

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  2. Oh no. That sux so hard core Thea. What a night!!

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  3. Oh hon :( may the vomiting pass soon and rest return

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  4. The joys of having kids huh?...

    Only last night I wrote a tweet about how good it is when your kids go to sleep but doesn't look like they got any either.

    Hope you caught a nap sometime during the day. Surely your kids would of been buggered after being sick all night.

    All that running counts as exercise for the week.

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  5. Silver lining is you got your cardio in for the day! Hope you get some sleep tonight. I know nothing unravels me faster than lack thereof.

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  6. This is on top of the illness earlier this week/last week? Sucky !!!

    Hope all sickness leaves your household very soon :)

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  7. Oh Thea, this is making me want to vomit with tiredness on your behalf...I hope they all get better soon (and in turn, that you get some decent shut eye......)

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  8. I hereby hand you my "Mother of the year award for coping with the night from hell." It comes with it's own bucket.
    Hope you get some sleep tonight. I so know how you feel xxx

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  9. Holy crap. On the bright side, it sounds like you got a pretty solid running workout! Hopefully you get a more peaceful night tonight x

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  10. Oh no, I hope the tummy bugs are gone and your babies sleep all the way through tonight!!

    Sending lots of sleepy love!
    xoxo

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  11. Wishing you a good night sleep tonight, and no sick babies.

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  12. Understand completely.

    The sleep deprivation was the hardest thing to get used to I found after my first was born. His feeds always took close to 2hrs, because he'd throw up after every feed - all over himself - so I had to clean him up, change clothes, change sheets and then he'd often do it AGAIN!

    Now, I can feel ok after not much sleep, but with 3 boys sleeping thru the night with hardly any nights of interruption, I'm in for a rude awakening if it happens again soon.

    Hope all is better now, hon. xxx

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  13. Hope today was better and you get more sleep tonight. xxxx

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