The Wonder of Sleep

It's amazing how much difference sleep can do for your life. Two weeks ago, my husband and I were strung out from lack of sleep. Our bugaboo was waking us up not once, not twice, but three or more times a night for heaven knows what reason. When you lose that much sleep, your brain stops functioning I have found. Whoever said that babies sleep a lot lied. If you are thinking about a baby, almost everyone forgets to tell you that babies often sleep in 45 minute catnaps that will not enable you to sleep well for the first 3 months of their lives (at least). They don't tell you this because they know that the likelihood that you will become a parent then will dramatically decrease.

I'm one of those people that has always struggled with sleep deprivation. I generally need more sleep than the average individual. If I don't have at least 8 hours under my belt, all filters to my brain stop and I become a real pain to live with. I know this; my family knows this; and most of all, my husband knows this. The ironic part of this need is that since high school I have struggled with the act of sleeping. In my senior year of high school, it was standard that I didn't fall asleep until 3am and was up at 6am to go to school. This lifestyle continued through my junior year of college when my youth and natural spunkiness slowed down and my body began to give out from this schedule. I began to get migraines often that lasted for days, I would lose my appetite, etc. etc.

So, after a little research into the life of an insomniac, I changed a few things. TVs will never be allowed in my bedroom. I can't read before bed because it stimulates my brain. And, like a child, I have a set bedtime routine to help me wind down so I can actually sleep. Most of the time this works, except for when I'm stressed out... or I have a baby that keeps waking me up.

So it's understandable that for the first four months of our kiddo's life, I believe that I have been a bit of a crazy person, right? There were good days and bad days, generally based upon how many times I woke up the night before and whether or not I was able to fall back asleep again once woken up. Now, as it has been a solid week where bugaboo sleeps for 5 to 6 hour stretches with only one feeding between 10pm and 8am, I'm beginning to feel my sanity returning. I laugh more, want to get out more, and enjoy the little things more. The barometer of how I am doing, I have found has been how much sleep I get the night before. The depression that has been hanging over my head is lifting, I can feel it... and all because of a little thing called sleep. It's amazing what sleep will do :)