My baby turned 2 months old yesterday. Well... two months down the road, I can't yet say that I've gotten the hang of this motherhood thing. In fact, if I'm being honest with myself, I'd say I'm only just getting by. The biggest culprit?
Sleep depravation.
Did you know that mothers, like, hardly ever sleep??? At least not for more than 2 hours at a stretch?! Not cos they don't want to, I assure you. Oh no... But it's cos their babies and their feeding schedules don't allow them the luxury to.
Take my baby for example: He nurses every one to three hours, for about an hour at a time, both, day and night. Round. The. Clock. -_- And it's not like he drifts off to dreamland like he should immediately after. No, this boy wants to suckle some more! And then some more. -_-'''
O-b-v-i-o-u-s-l-y, he can't have his way. I can't allow him to. I need my sanity. My space. (And my nipples, for that matter.) So, no. No suckling forever, buddy boy. Drink your fill and call it a day, please. This momma needs a break from nursing, too! And her sleep.
Thing is, I always thought I'd be able to handle the lack of sleep, you know. What?? I have a career in Advertising leh. And I was with MCKL for a good number of years. There, you go home at 9PM and you get asked,
"Wah!! Half day ahhh???" Haha. So night time feeds? Aiya, wet wet water la...
But I forgot one crucial difference.
It didn't occur to me that motherhood doesn't come with Saturdays and Sundays off for me to recharge after a brutal 5 days of hard work, fueled only by 2-hour nights. Instead, it's a train wreck of endless days and sleepless nights, one tiring, zoned out, grossly overworked week after another, month after month. :-/
Don't get me wrong though. I still love babies. And I love
my baby more. A part of me wishes he'd remain at this adorable, cooing, drooling age and stay my little baby forever. =) But the zombified part of me just wants to ship him off to college ASAP so I can finally get a good night's rest with a solid 8-hour sleep each time the sun goes down. -_-'''