Not getting sleep is actually one of biggest things I was worried about before becoming a mom. I've always been the type of person that doesn't function well if I don't get 7.5-8 hours of sleep every night. I could maybe handle it for a couple days, but more than that and it wasn't a pretty picture.
Well, my baby experience started at 10:30pm at night, which of course meant that I got to labor through the night and through much of the next day. By the time Isaiah came, we (Andrew stayed with me all the way!) had been up for 33 hours. By the time sleeping was a possibility, I was way too wired to doze, though my mom, Andrew, and Isaiah took a nice little nap in the late afternoon. I think I finally took a small nap around 7 or 8pm that evening.Whew.
It was the second night at home (so Isaiah was about 4-5 days old), and as Andrew and I were going to bed around 9:30, I started to get a little bit hysterical as I thought about the fact that it could be MONTHS before I got to sleep through the whole night. I was just SO tired, I couldn't handle the thought of what could be my reality. It was a bad moment for me.
But, we have survived. After the initial first few weeks, Isaiah became a pretty good night sleeper, up at maximum 2x a night to eat, and then by 3 months ( I think), up only once a night to eat. I know I am blessed - many other moms I know have not had this same experience, and it has been a much longer, more exhausting first several months for them.
Still, broken-up sleep is vastly different than continuous sleep in how rested a body feels in the morning, and I have been tired for much of the year 2012.
You know what I have learned the most in regards to sleep?
The Lord sustains me.
Maybe that should be bigger....it is too important to pass over.
The Lord sustains me.
He has and He will continue to sustain me, because He is a faithful God. And guess what? He will sustain you as well. In the wee hours of the morn, the late hours of the night, in the dragging hours of the afternoon until hubby comes home from work....the Lord sustains us through it all.
I used to pray desperately for enough energy to get through the day, and I've realized that in my head what I really wanted was a huge burst of energy that would last all day so that I didn't even feel tired. Then as night fell and I crawled into bed, I would think back and be disappointed that the Lord didn't answer my prayer.
Sometimes I'm a little slow to get things, but after several months I have finally recognized that each day the Lord has indeed answered my pleas. He HAS given me enough energy to get through each day, though not in the huge, bountiful, bunch of energy I wanted. Instead, He has met me in each hour, each minute of exhaustion when I don't think I can carry on....there He is, faithful to provide me with the strength to keep going.
The last several weeks have actually contained several blissful nights of long, continuous sleep as Isaiah is (mostly) sleeping through the night now (yay!), so Andrew and I have been feeling quite well rested. Last week was rough for us though, as Isaiah was up in the middle of the night for considerable lengths of time, for no known reasons. I also heard from a few moms, with new and not-so-new babies, who are going through a lot of sleep deprivation, and all the memories of those days...months...came rushing back.
Sleep is valuable, and it is precious, and with a baby it is not guaranteed. Through those hard days I am so thankful to have learned so much more about the faithfulness of my Saviour--He is enough for me each day.
Here are a few pictures of who causes my lost sleep--he is soooo worth it! :)
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| Super diaper Baby! |
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| Fun in the tub! |
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| "Who, me?! I have no idea how this mess happened, Mommy!" |
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| Isaiah LOVES to swing! |
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| Reading books on a Sunday afternoon with Daddy |
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| Standing all by himself! |
Hope this Sunday is restful to you, both in body and in soul!
