Oh the joy of sleep deprivation! I’ve always been an 8 hour minimum night’s sleep type of gal. It’s amazing how I’m still able to function now with 2 hour increments of sleep per night. Also completely surprised at how amazing I feel after getting 4 hours of straight sleep.
Sleep deprivation can do a number on you mentally, emotionally and physically. I turn into a complete monster when I am running on two hours of sleep and definitely feel bad for the hubby for receiving the backlash. Patience will run low, you will be too tired to sleep at times, you forget what you did 5 minutes ago, you will repeat things you already did, and you will get snappy! You start looking like a homeless person and one day happen to catch a glimpse of yourself while outside and are in utter shock at the physical transformation (and this is on a day you think you looked okay). I find myself investing in eye creams, more makeup and crying in my bathroom corner. I look at old photos and wonder if I’ll ever look like that again!
Funniest things I’ve done while sleep deprived:
Hallucinated. You are half asleep and swear the baby is somewhere else or you are somewhere else. This happened to me last night, I thought it was 3am and it was time to feed the baby when it was only 9pm. I ran to her room frantic because I thought I missed her first feeding.
Delirious online shopping. Once I was so delirious I added a bunch of random things to my shopping cart and hit “purchase”. The next morning I saw a confirmation email in my inbox and had to call them to cancel. What was I thinking?
Phantom crying. I swear she’s crying when she’s not. I’ll run into her room and she’s fast asleep.
I keep praying this will end soon and sometimes get upset if my little babe won’t stop crying at night. But then… I think about how this time won’t last forever. One day she won’t need me anymore and there will be a time where she won’t be right next to me where I can scoop her right up. So I just brush off my fatigue and hold her even closer and just try to freeze that moment. “These times won’t last forever, please don’t grow up too fast.” I whisper.