The Ultimate Gift: Sleep

There is nothing I love to do more than sleep.  I will admit that one of the hardest parts of this first year of motherhood has been the sleep situation.  I don't know if I just need more sleep than the average person, am really lazy, or what, but I dream of sleep even when I'm sleeping.  Elsa did not start consistently sleeping through the night until she was about 10 months old.  In fact, she had only slept through the night once or twice until she was nine months old.  While getting up once/night for 10-15 minutes doesn't seem so bad, nearly a year of not having even a single night of uninterrupted sleep will take its toll on you.

Elsa now sleeps through the night, but has started a sleep pattern that I find even more difficult to cope with: early morning wakings.  She has started waking FOR THE DAY before 6am.  Once, it was before 5am.  I know there are people who pop out of bed that early, work out, go to work, and feel great.  I am not one of those people.  Getting up at 5:30, watching her while I get ready for the day, take her to daycare, work all day, pick her up, scramble to feed her, play with her, bathe her and put her to bed by 7 is a rough day.  After that, I have to eat, shower, get everything ready for the next day and also love on the dogs and the birds.  I'm tired.  I fantasize about sleep.  I fantasize about having one night of sleep that is uninterrupted and after which I sleep until at least 7am.  Is that too much to ask?

Apparently my early morning bitching and moaning about how I "just can't do this anymore" and whine "I just don't know how I'm going to get through the day" got to Jason.  While I fantasized about sleeping, he fantasized about a morning when I wasn't a complete and utter bitch.  So, he booked me a hotel room two Saturdays ago.  When I expressed my excitement about this to my coworkers, they thought it was weird.  But, I know you fellow moms will understand.  I got to spend an entire evening and night all by myself.  No birds.  No baby monitor.  No dogs sleeping on top of me.  No ass juice in my bed.

The hardest part was figuring out what to do with that precious time.  Go to bed right when I got there or enjoy the time alone?  I couldn't get my hands on any Xanax or Ambien, which was my ultimate fantasy, but I did bring some Benadryl and wine with me.  I checked into my suite (upgraded upon check-in!) had a quiet dinner, took a shower, sat in bed and watched cable while reading a magazine and painting my nails.  See how relaxed I am?

I took my Benadryl early enough so that I wouldn't have a Benadryl hangover the next day.  I spread out in my king sized bed and there was no Neptune snoring in my face.  It was bliss.  I didn't sleep especially late the next day, but I lounged in bed for a bit before going on a short run in Forest Park.  Ahhh, what a night.  It was the best gift Jason could have given me.  New moms: I highly recommend getting away for a night and recharging the ol' battery.  It won't make up for a year of horrible sleep, but it will energize you just enough to keep on moving.