Sleep Deprivation

Two words. Every new parent get to know very well.

When Lily was born, she let out this loud, high pitched wail and Gary and I looked at each other... oh no.

Day 1 in hospital: She cried and cried and cried and cried... especially when night falls. A lovely nurse took her at night, and said to me, have some rest. All I could hear from a distance was Lily's high pitched cries. No rest for the wicked.

Day 2 in hospital: Same nurse, same baby. Uh-oh, she said, I think you have a colicky baby. Err. No. Thanks. Can you take her back? I held her all night, rocked her to sleep and whispered sweet nothings into her ears. She slept, like a baby. But as soon as I put her down, she wails.

Day 3 in hospital: She slept and slept and slept. 10 hours straight. I was getting a wee bit worried. I pushed my boob into her mouth, but she refused. Come on Tiger, I thought, if we don't make the weights tomorrow, we won't be able to go home. I was the one prancing about at 3,4,5am, wondering when she would wake for her feed. She's looking a tad yellow, first sign of jaundice. The same nurse warned Lily, if you don't wake up, we will have to prick your heel for a blood test. She woke up.

Day 4: We made the weights despite the long sleep. She weighs 3kg on the dot and we were discharged home with a nurse to check on us for the next couple of days. She slept like a baby all the way home into her new (hand-me-down) cradle. She does 5-6 hour stretches, and even when she wakes, she only makes little kitten like noises. My mother-in-law remarked oh what a good baby she is. What she doesn't know is that the jaundice is making her sleepy.

Day5-2 weeks: She still does her long stretches during the day, but wakes up every 3 hours at night. She must have her nights and days all mixed up, which is what I've expected anyways. It has been like that all these while in utero. She feeds well, poos and wees and putting on enough weight. But she is still jaundiced.

2 weeks-2 days ago: She wakes every 3 hours, she's like a time machine knowing when the seconds are ticking over to 3 hours on the dot. She feeds like a hungry baby. She filled her 0000 suits right up, and now jumping into 000.

Last night (3 weeks old): She woke at 10pm, stayed awake till midnight, would not settle and cried and cried till 2am. She woke at 2.30am, 3am, 4am. She finally went to sleep but then woke up at 6am. And it's 7am, I could hear pitter patter feet coming into my bedroom. Gaaahhh... now Lucas is awake. Good lord!

Now I look like a zombie, and I think a good cup of coffee is coming my way. And if by chance I could evict everyone out of this house, Lily and I would have a nice long sleep. We can only hope...