Sleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeepy

Last night we had an unwelcome and unexpected visitor...

To be honest, Joel had probably been carrying the little blighter around for a few days.  No, not head lice...   Worse; a vomiting bug.  Marvellous.

I was a bit surprised, as often you do have a clue when your kids are going to be ill.  They're a bit grumpy / badly behaved / off their food / just not right...  None of this happened yesterday; Joel was on good form.  Sadly, that wasn't much consolation when I was helping to catch (maybe) the 14th lot of vomit at four in the morning...  I had actually lost count by then, and so had Joel...  He must have been ill...

So today, Joel didn't go to school.  He's actually been surprisingly perky, and although not eating completely normally, he seems well on the way to recovery.

I wish I could say the same for me.

One night of rubbish sleep, and I'm a wreck.  Where did my stamina go?  Actually, in my defence Joel probably slept better than I did; as he went straight back to sleep each time, where as I just lay there waiting and listening for the next installment (I know, lovely this isn't it...)

The thing is, back when my children were tiny - I remember feeling fabulous (OK, pretty great - mustn't exaggerate too much...) if I could just get four hours sleep together. Despite the fact that the sleep deprivation phase just seemed to last forever.  I also remember wondering if I would actually ever sleep a whole night through again - it just seemed so unlikely.  I was wildly jealous of the people getting full nights of sleep, who weren't appreciating it...  It just seemed so unfair, that as the tiredest person in the world (sleep deprivation obviously leaves you entirely rational) I was getting the least amount of sleep...

In my time as a midwife I lost count of the number of times I reminded people that sleep deprivation is used as a form of torture, and that it wasn't surprising that they felt pretty shoddy.  I know, I was a little ray of sunshine, wasn't I?!  (In my defence, I was probably trying to explain to them that they were experiencing normal motherhood, and that there wasn't something terribly wrong with their little bundle of joy...  Midwives should all carry a neon sign that says: "Yes, it's normal", because it normally is!)  Still, having had two babies of my own, I truly empathise with the long term sleep deprived mother...  It does get better. 

So now, predictably, I am going to have a nice bath, and go to bed, hoping that I get to stay there; and that there's no more vomit in my house (or anywhere else in my life for that matter) for at least a month.  Optimistic or foolishly unrealistic? 

Ah well, wish me luck.

Sweet dreams xx