sleep dreams

As a little girl I'd often refuse to get out of bed to go to school. Partly because some of the girls could be mean, but mainly because I have never been a morning person. This has continued through to adulthood and Adi is well accustomed to getting nothing out of me aside from an occasional grunt each morning until I've come round.

Not only am I not a morning person, but I also require a good 9+ hours sleep a night. I sometimes go into panic mode if I've stayed up too late, knowing that I can't cope on much less. 

Luckily I slept pretty well throughout the pregnancy without too many middle of the night loo trips, but the tiredness was like nothing I'd felt before. I was told that it would be so much worse when the baby was born, so fear set in. Every parent I spoke to would tease me about the sleepless nights and it was my main worry about becoming a mum!

It's very early days I know, but I am totally in awe of my body and feel I need to give pregnant women some hope. The hormones produced by the body after birth allow you to cope with next to nothing and short stints really do get you through. 

If someone had shown me my sleep diary before getting pregnant I would have had a panic attack and possibly delayed motherhood! For the first week I had no more than 4.5 hours sleep a day in stints of 30mins - 2 hours. I've since managed to increase this to about 7 hours over the day, and I sometimes manage 3 hours at a time. 

I am tired, very tired and I brace myself each night before bed, longing for a good 8 hour stint, (I'd take half that right now) but I'm still in a happy phase as I'm coping and my body is helping me. 

I'm taking each day as it comes and I know that this will change as he goes through various different stages, (notably teething) but while these hormones are helping, I'm one happy, if sleep-deprived mummy/ feeding station.

To petrified mums-to-be, trust your body, we're designed to do this. Just remember to invest in some good concealer.

sleepy mummy and Hugo, second night