Sleep? What Sleep?!?!
Among the hundreds of cliches parents endure during a pregnancy, the most common is the, "Enjoy your sleep while you can" cliche. I, like every father before me, appreciated the obvious advice but got very tired of hearing the same things over and over.
Nothing could have been more true than that cliche however. Sleep has become a rare commodity, far more precious than gold. Me complaining about my sleep is downright shameful when you consider the serious lack of sleep my wife has to endure as a breastfeeding mother. Several times a night she is up with him, changing, feeding, burping and rocking. The whole ordeal last for nearly an hour. When that happens three or four times a night, then you can see the problem.
Mrs. Worfner and I had decided that Sunday morning would be young Aiden's first trip to church services. On Saturday night and into Sunday morning, Aiden changed our plans. He was very fussy all night, but at 3AM he woke up and stayed up until 7:30. Needless to say, my wife and son didn't accompany me to services that morning. Since I was only up for less than half of that, I did manage to make it although I missed out on bible study before services.
I have the ability to sleep through my child's screams. I'm not bragging, in fact, it's embarassing to me. My wife has accused me of ignoring him, and deep down I think she believes I am. I tell you I am not. I told her early on, just wake me up and I'll be glad to change him and do what I can. For 3 1/2 weeks she never would take me up on it. I'm glad to say she got over that this weekend. And I truly am thankful. It helps alleviate some of my guilt for not being able to do more.
So all you soon to be fathers and potential parents, enjoy your sleep now. It's a rarity when you become the parent of a newborn. At least I'm at work now where I can catch up on my rest.
2 comments:
The brain doesn't need sleep. You just have to keep it wet.
Congrats man, I wasn't aware of the news. When Katie was born I was up with Kelly most of the time, but when Robbie came around I was allowed to sleep most nights with few interruptions. The first time the kid sleeps through the whole night is quite a God Send :)
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