I always remember how much I used to love my sleep pre-kids. I was one of those children who asked to be put to bed when I was tired and I loved my lie ins at the weekend. I didn’t particular always enjoy living in halls of residence at Uni as it was so noisy and I struggled to sleep a lot. I remember being so unwell, as I was often just so rundown. Sleep is so important!
You just take it for granted you can sleep when you want before you have kids. You are free. No one is going to wake you up apart from if you can be bothered to set an alarm. If you fancy a nap, off you go.
Then you have children.
I remember bringing the gremlin home after she was born; overwhelmed and exhausted after being in labour for 36 hours and getting about 4 hours sleep the night before. That girl led us into a sense of false security and slept the first night. Then we were in for hell for a few days, as she sorted out her feeding, my milk came in and we formed some sort of routine with it all. I remember thinking will I ever sleep again? I used to dread going to bed thinking what time will she sleep tonight? Will she wake up lots? Can I DO THIS? WHAT HAVE WE DONE???
It was such a massive shock to the system. I started to fantasise about sleep. Hubby and I argued about sleep. I probably dreamt about sleep.
I spoke to Joy Richards, who is the sleep specialist at Happy Beds and she told me that a good mattress is absolutely essential at this stage of life. I couldn’t agree more – I was so glad we spent well when we bought a mattress, as who knew I would want to spend more time on it?
I was so glad we pondered when we were on the hunt for mattresses from Happy Beds, as who knew I would want to spend so much time lying on it? As an early riser myself as a child my Mum was thankful either my 6am riser Dad or Grandad got up with me. As my husband also wants to sleep, I do not have that luxury and 7am is a lie in.
It’s funny though. I went from being a girl who survived on 8-9 hours when I was pregnant, to realising I could manage on 7 or less. I functioned and I managed, even when I went back to work and the gremlin decided she wanted to scream every night for milk or get every cough under the sun.
Little Piglet appeared a few years later and I didn’t even bat an eyelid. Of course I was tired but I was in the routine. I was used to sleep being something I only got on my eldest’s terms. It wasn’t such a shock to the system and although I was tired, I could cope.
You adjust and although I still dream of sleeping, hubby and I go away for weekends and end up waking up early! Long lie ins are a thing of the past and although I miss my sleep and do obsess now and then, it’s just different. There are some pros too! Getting up for work isn’t so hard as I do it anyway everyday! I fit in early morning work outs and sometimes I see the sun rise.
Every cloud eh?
I’m sure one day, the sleep obsession will pass and I’ll be screaming at the girls to get them up and out of bed. For now I’ll dream of the zzzzs and get the ear plugs out!
Disclosure – this is a collaborative post.