The Sleeping Mother

Robert Frost once wrote: "one can see what will trouble this sleep of mine, whatever sleep is." Any mother who reads this may feel that Mr. Frost wrote this for them. Not I. My son has been sleeping nine hours a night since he was two months old. Please don't hate me and continue reading.

My son doesn't get his sleeping skills from me. I have been a troubled sleeper all my life. Although I had a bedtime as child, I would not---could not---fall asleep. When everyone else was slumbered, I could polish a Babysitter's Little Sister book in one sitting. Into my adulthood, a typical bedtime was 4:00 a.m.

Given my prior history, I was not dreading going into sleepless nights with a newborn. But just as I was ready to return to work after 8 weeks, he started sleeping through the night. If that wasn't amazing enough, so did I. Motherhood actually brought me the best sleep in my life. Until recently. My last post, Career and Sick Baby, chronicled my son's first stomach virus. The sickness didn't end there.

This month, that stomach virus came through our family, followed by two sinus infections that eventually led to bronchitis, a fever, an ear infection, and one case of pink eye.  He also got a new tooth with his myriad of afflictions.  With these endless discomforts, sleep has been interrupted.  Every night.  Since May 3.

So I'm back to uninterrupted sleep.  But it's okay.  Because I know it's temporary.  I want to give thanks to my husband, for passing this gift of sleep onto our son.  And although you struggle with waking up in the night because you sleep sounder than the dead, you are kind when I do need to wake you, and you let me catch up on sleep when I need to.  

What amazes me--who amazes me--are my colleagues, my fellow working mothers who have pushed through waking nights, napless workdays, and preparatory evenings to do it all again the next day.  You are truly remarkable.

Career and Sick Baby

My blissful April vacation ended and I returned back to work last week.  It was a  pretty good week, except for the stomach virus.

The Sunday before returning to work, I told my husband, "The baby is going to get sick. He always does when he returns to daycare."  I was at work for three days when I checked on my son to find him lying in a puddle of his vomit.  In his defense, he was in very good spirits. 

At 5:30 a.m. on Thursday morning, I found myself on the phone with my boss to call off work.  I always hated calling off work.  It feels shameful and awkward.  But my boss was understanding and there I was with my son pretending I knew what to do.

I had no clue how to handle the situation.  This was his first stomach virus.  As his little body sat on my lap dry heaving into a towel, I consulted my Facebook friends.  I left a general status asking for advice on caring for a stomach virus.  They left great words of wisdom which I followed.   It left me wondering, how did my Mom survive parenting without Facebook?

I was encouraged to feed my son Pedialyte, but didn't have the car to make purchases.  My husband, who also had the virus, still went to work with our only car.  Luckily, a good friend made the stop for me on her way to work, and I kept my baby hydrated.

I was surprised how easy he was to care for.  He required hydration, sleep, and snuggling.  I actually got work done at home, so I didn't have to feel so shameful about calling off.

On Friday, we all returned to our normal routine as if nothing had happened.   It was a lovely weekend, except for my stomach virus.