Sleep Deprivation

I haven't had a shut eye in the last 24 hours... Shriya kept me up. (I know that's really not much given that I've done longer hours without sleep at work; but then I had weekends to doze off then! ) These are signs of her getting back on road, which makes me happy... but I do wish mommy-hood dint involve loosing sleep so often!

Flashback the first night at the hospital: Shriya was born at 14:04 hours on a crisp Tuesday afternoon. (All noons are pretty much crisp here.. I live in Singapore!!!) The duty nurse confirmed that I wished to breastfeed my baby all through the night ... and I wondered why she would want to confirm that? Dint everyone breastfeed their babies! Mommies feed babies! The nurse woke me up each time ...
... I guess the adrenalin rush was still high up since pushing her out... I happily woke up every couple of hours to breastfeed her. As does every mother, I marvelled at Shriya's perfection each time I took her from the nurse. Her pink mouth... long fingers etc etc. And she bit me.... NO ONE tells you how your nipples hurt when your little one sucks and nibbles to get that milk out of you. Lesson learnt: hold on to the nipple cream the moment you know you are gonna deliver. (In any case, once they learn to suckle, breastfeeding your baby is painless and full of joy. :) Try getting your baby's focus onto you and make them smile... Shriya held on to my nipple and would give a beautiful gummy smile!)

Back to my no-sleep-crib-story: The novelty wears off rather quickly and within the week, I wondered how long before I get her off breast milk and get some good sleep. Getting her off breastfeeding hasn't exactly got me my 8 hour sleep.

The lady in the bed next to mine at the hospital... she slept through the nights, while I was shaken awake by the nurse to feed Shriya. Well, Shriya was usually asleep and in my half-waken state I tried to rouse her up to feed. She would either chew at my nipple or holler at being awakened. The nurses named her 'the singing baby' ... Shriya would go on a high note every now and then and would only go quiet once I summoned the nurse in! The point here is, the lady in the bed next to mine, slept through it all. The next day I noticed a whole bunch of people come in to visit her...different shapes and sizes (2 ft - 6 ft). She had had her 5th 'bundle of joy'... Although I dint understand it then, I now appreciate her judgement in choosing to bottle feed her baby at nights while she rested those 2-3 days in the hospital. Imagine getting back home with children ranging 2-10 yrs and a new born in your arms! Boy, did she need those hours of sleep! Why not simply choose bottle-feeds at nights and breast-feeds during the day for any child? (mmm... wonder how I will handle that for my next baby! I think I will most probably succumb to emotions - the mommy-baby-bonding via breast-feeding fundas that I hear from my mom...in-laws...etc etc)

The truth, as I've heard from all my counterparts.. forget sleep for the first 2 years of having a baby! (I'm nearly at the half-way mark! yippee!)