The Prophetess Sleeps. But Her Mother Sure Doesn't.

The Prophetess sleeps.

Wow. Where did that week go? I've been in a haze, feeding Sylvie pretty much every two hours round the clock -- except for when David or Renee, our babysitter, spell me. And since a feeding generally takes half an hour to forty-five minutes and then we hold Sylvie in an upright position for fifteen minutes or so (a lesson learned from the experience of feeding Luke as a newborn with gastroesophageal reflux disease), that means by the time the feeding is over there's about an hour in which to sleep. And it generally takes me half of that to get back to sleep, no matter how tired I am. In fact, the more tired I am, the longer it seems to take. The severity of this situation is something that most childless people don't quite comprehend -- I know I certainly didn't. It's a form of torture, the sleep deprivation, and I personally believe it's evolution's way of ensuring the new mother's undying devotion to her little cult leader. "Maternal love"? Just another way of saying "completely brainwashed".

Last night, though, hurrah! Last night she went three hours and then four hours between feedings. This meant she fed at 10:30pm, again at 1:30am, and then not again until 5:30am -- and that meant I slept for perhaps two hours in a row before I had to be awake for an hour, followed by almost three consecutive hours of sleep. It was a miracle! I love sleep with a passion. If there were a way to marry sleep or vote it president, I'd do it in a heartbeat. That is, of course, if Her Holiness The Supreme Leader and Ultimate Prophetess, Sylvie, said it was so ordained.

(Worth noting: I just used Merriam Webster's thesaurus to try and find suitable titles for the leader of a cult and when I did a search on the word "pope" no matches came up. But a list of "similar words" did. It is topped by "babe" and "baby." Out of the mouths of thesauruses. Thesauri? Whatever. I'll be back when I get some more sleep.)

Comments

[genevieve]

OOOH. I remember, I remember. Hope she extends her sleeps consistently for you.
Take care.

[Ailsa Gray]

Once Upon A Time, many many moons ago (about thirteen years), I had six children under the age of seven - no twins either - and I spent my days dreaming of sleep, planning naps, trying to trick my husband into thinking it was His Turn to get up at the weekend (it wasn't), and trying to kid the children that a fun activity for 4pm was for us all to go upstairs and get into bed and sleep (they didn't fall for that one). Now, they are all teenagers - 19,18,17,16, 15 and 13 - we never worked out what happened to the 14 year old - and our lives are still dominated by sleeping. I can't get them to bed at night, and I can't get them up in the morning. However, I can - and do - have naps when I can, and think that has kept me sane. Of sorts. Yes, sleep for Prime Minister. Or Queen.