Day 1....Done

I'm exhausted. 

This working mom thing is much harder than it looks on TV. 

Baby O decided to wake up last night around 3:30.  Since I had just re-read the relevant sections in the sleep bible, I decided I shouldn't go into her room. She wasn't crying -- just playing...but still, I couldn't sleep. After about 40 minutes I checked the video monitor and saw that she had gotten out of her swaddle.  Since I was not thinking rationally (who does at 4:15AM), I decided that even though she'd made it that long without an intervention, I should go in and re-swaddle.  Needless to say that started a cycle of crying, feeding, falling asleep then crying and feeding again. 

What's a mom to do?  If I had just gone in and given her the boob in the beginning of her fussing, I would have been back asleep in 20 minutes.  But then I would have been reinforcing bad sleep habits.  Instead, I stayed up for an hour in the middle of the night convincing myself that I should be strong and ended up caving anyway.  Ugh!  Needless to say, O's daddy was fast asleep beside me, oblivious to the drama that was playing out in my head.

So how'd the first day at work go?  Well, I was tired but I did OK without the little munchkin.  After all, we've been practicing.  The best thing about day care so far is that you get to go through a transition period before returning back to work so you already know how to survive without the little one by your side. 

We'll need to figure out how to handle the nighttime routines though.  O is exhausted by the time we pick her up, so exhausted that she can't even make eye contact.  Sad for Mommy who wants to see her smile but also easy because she goes to sleep without a protest. 

Comments

[Liat]

You can do it sista! Hang in there!

[Melissa R]

Naama - There are 3 rules about getting your children to sleep when Mom and Dad are trying to earn a living.
1/ Don't go in
2/ Don't go in
3/ Don't go in
Good luck, and get some z's!