Those Middle-Of-The-Night-Feedings

Thursday, 24 January 2008

Middle-of-the-night feedings involve quick, yet strict manuvering on my part. I have to be quick to get to Chase (which I am because I sleep with practically one eye open and slumber over to the next room once I hear Chase stirring - Chris on the other hand will sleep like a log for an entire ten hours without being woken up, unless I hover over him and shout out that the baby is crying). Yet I can't quite nurse in a slumber as my baby also has his father's genes and has a hard time waking up. On the other hand, he has my genes, and gets hungry every two hours, so when he's hungry, HE'S HUNGRY, and he wants food NOW.

So, we go through this ritual of him nursing (because any child of mine can eat in a slumber) for like five seconds, then stretching for five seconds, nursing, then stretching, nursing, then stretching. It's quite funny because he can't decide if he's hungry or tired. I tell him, "Sweetheart, you need to decide which one you are. Are you hungry or are you tired?" (Because you're either gonna spit up soon or fall out of my arms. And, neither of us are awake enough to deal with any dire situation at this crazy hour. So, let's just eat honey and go back to sleep.)

I've given up trying to change his diaper before or after each feeding because from 8 pm on, he's just too tired for me to change his diaper, and if I try, he'll get too upset and will have a harder time falling back asleep. So, I just change the 5 pounders once or twice during the night, even waiting only till morning sometimes.

I'm so tired most times that I just want him to hurry up and eat so that we both can go back to sleep. Doesn't work that way though. I find myself multi-tasking in the middle of the night...updating my blog (I'm mastering the one-finger typing), looking at Craigslist, or working on schoolwork while I'm nursing. If I'm going to be up, might as well be productive I suppose. Perhaps I should incorporate some yoga in there since I haven't been making it to class lately....Then again, what am I thinking?! It's the middle of the night! I just want to curl up back in bed. Now, that's a concept!