Wednesday, March 29, 2006

Back When I Thought I'd Never Sleep Again


Post #4 from the Affect:

New Daddy Diary, Entry #3
Sleep?
What Sleep?!?!Among the hundreds of cliches parents endure during a pregnancy,
the most common is the, "Enjoy your sleep while you can" cliche. I, like every
father before me, appreciated the obvious advice but got very tired of hearing
the same things over and over.Nothing could have been more true than that cliche
however. Sleep has become a rare commodity, far more precious than gold. Me
complaining about my sleep is downright shameful when you consider the serious
lack of sleep my wife has to endure as a breastfeeding mother. Several times a
night she is up with him, changing, feeding, burping and rocking. The whole
ordeal last for nearly an hour. When that happens three or four times a night,
then you can see the problem.Mrs. Worfner and I had decided that Sunday morning
would be young Aiden's first trip to church services. On Saturday night and into
Sunday morning, Aiden changed our plans. He was very fussy all night, but at 3AM
he woke up and stayed up until 7:30. Needless to say, my wife and son didn't
accompany me to services that morning. Since I was only up for less than half of
that, I did manage to make it although I missed out on bible study before
services.I have the ability to sleep through my child's screams. I'm not
bragging, in fact, it's embarassing to me. My wife has accused me of ignoring
him, and deep down I think she believes I am. I tell you I am not. I told her
early on, just wake me up and I'll be glad to change him and do what I can. For
3 1/2 weeks she never would take me up on it. I'm glad to say she got over that
this weekend. And I truly am thankful. It helps alleviate some of my guilt for
not being able to do more.So all you soon to be fathers and potential parents,
enjoy your sleep now. It's a rarity when you become the parent of a newborn. At
least I'm at work now where I can catch up on my rest.

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