One week into life as a family of five. Feel a little like I'm living in a twilight zone at times but some semblance of normality is slowly forming. Today I am surviving off a little more sleep than usual, Denny and Noah are out with my Dad and Step Mum at the beach, Lee's gone into work for a few hours and I'm waiting for the delivery of my ergo newborn insert (so I can venture out of the house) and contemplating making a chocolate mousse while baby’s sleeping... then again, maybe I should also be sleeping??
This always happens to me. You’d think I’d know better by now third time in and all. This blissful phase where the baby is asleep more than awake is fleeting so why am I here all unprepared for it. I should have made a ‘post-partum to do list’! Things to accomplish when baby is asleep because let’s face it, how many of us actually sleeps when the baby’s sleeping? I always feel so guilty about all the other things I could be doing during that precious time but of course my body and hormones have other ideas. Plus with other kids to think about, I should be taking advantage of the fact I have helping hands here for a couple of weeks and just go the F to sleep while I have the chance!!
With my first I was like a deer in headlights every time she fell asleep (which happened in an erratic and unpredictable manner). It was like omg she’s asleep, okay what shall I do? Check my emails? Upload the billions of photos I’ve got of her on my phone since she was born 3 days ago? Eat? Sleep? Oh fuck, she’s already awake again. Never mind.
I mean sure, I’ll do a bit of sleeping. Okay I pretty much have grand plans to be super productive all over the house but 3 minutes into folding baby clothes my body’s getting all narky with me for making it be energetic. Fine, I’ll sleep when the baby sleeps.
The struggle is real, am I right??
What do you do when your baby sleeps? Do you feel guilty about all the things you know you have to do? Are you prepared and organised or all over the place like me? Tell me at hadassah@threelittlehines.com.