Sleep

Sleep is a funny thing... When you have it you forget what its like to be without and when you are without all you do is think about it.

The girls slept through the night before they were 3 months old.  They were born on October 6th and by the time I went back to work on January 2nd they were sleeping all night long (10p-6a) which was amazing.  I'm not sure how I could have functioned at my job without sleep!  Teaching is tiring enough WITH sleep!

I got pregnant with the boys on June 25th when the girls were only 8.5 months old.  I slept well for a while until I hit that "get up every hour and pee" stage in the pregnancy which was sometime before Christmas.  On top of being pregnant with twins again, I had to chase around my two 1-year-olds.  They went from crawling to walking to running in the blink of an eye.  I tried to nap when they napped, but that didn't happen every day.  And then if I napped too well during the afternoon there was no way I was going to sleep well at night. Not to mention the heartburn I had... oh the heartburn!  It set in way earlier with the boys.  I felt like I was sending Brian to the store for tums at least 3x/week because I ate them like they were candy.  If I didn't, I was so so so sick.

The week the boys' arrived I didn't sleep at all!  I was induced on Thursday morning.  I didn't sleep Wednesday night because I was just anxious and excited to meet my little guys!  Thursday night I was in labor all night and Brian didn't stay at the hospital with me so when we went home that Sunday I hadn't slept since the previous Tuesday (but really not since like Thanksgiving.)

Sunday night I slept in my own bed and it was amazing!  Although  I only slept for 2-3 hours at a time.  Monday during the day I remember Brian took over for a few hours so I could sleep for a solid 4-5 hours and I felt like a new person.

Since then, I have been taking most of the night feeds.  I was trying to breastfeed a lot in the beginning so Brian couldn't really help me with that.  He also has to go to class, and also teach so he needs to be somewhat rested in order to actually focus.  If he doesn't have class, I stay up until the 6am feed and then go to sleep for a solid 3-4 hours.  I can only sleep that long because I need to pump every 3-4 hours.

To say the least, I have been completely exhausted.  There's nothing worse than not being able to follow a conversation because you are just too tired to pay attention to what someone is saying.

Just this week we have finally hit a turning point in the boys' sleep habits.  Two nights in a row Elliott has slept all night!! Two nights ago: 10p-4a and last night it was 9pm-6am!!! Oliver was up twice in the time Elliott was sleeping, but I will take it!  Only a mother of multiples can appreciate feeding only one baby in the middle of the night instead of two.  I've even managed to figure out how to feed Oliver by putting him on the boppy next to me on the couch so I can pump at the same time.  I can pump, feed Oliver and be back to bed in less than 30 minutes.  I have felt SO much better these last two days than I have in months. Seriously, months.  The boys are only 9.5 weeks old, so I hope that Oliver will be sleeping all night soon!  I do like to cuddle with him in the middle of the night, but I'm pretty sure I could find time during the day to cuddle too!