The first three months of a baby's life are full of wonderment and joy for all parents. Newborns are so incredibly cute, one could spend hours just gazing at their dreamy faces, listening to their coos and murmurs. It's truly blissful. Not so much at 2, 3, 4 and 5 am though. As cute as they are there is no denying that in the middle of the night every single parent feels that pang of anger while pleading - please, please, please just go the fuck to sleep. Oh sure, you'll have those sanctimommies who damn us, who say these days are precious and few and to relish the special joys of middle of the night feedings. Eff that. We are not, as a species, meant to survive on broken segments of sleep. Even the most devoted and attentive moms have to admit that after a few weeks the lack of sleep grates on your nerves and can drive you a bit insane.
That said, I have been incredibly lucky to have not just one but two babies that sleep pretty darn well. We've had only two "sleepless" nights, despite being warned by everyone that we would not sleep for months. For the most part they have slept for 2-3 hours in between feedings since day one. Because I'm pumping and go for at least 45 minutes with that this means there are many nights where I've gotten 1.5-2 hours of sleep in between feedings. Add it all up and I've gotten 5-6 hours every night since they came home. But, let me tell you, as someone who has suffered from sleep issues my entire life, there is a huge difference between 3 sets of 2 hours of sleep and six consecutive hours. Huuuuge difference. A year ago I would have happily taken six hours and had a fantastic day. It was not uncommon for me to run on 5-6 hours (sometimes less) a night for weeks at a time. The key was that the hours of sleep was mostly all in a row and therefore I was completing sleep cycles. Since the twins came home I've been fighting some serious zombie mode. That's what happens when you're ripped from just starting deep sleep mode by a screaming baby. Or two. This was our new life and we have accepted it. That is until today.
BOTH my girls slept from 12am to 7am last night.
That is seven hours people. SEVEN! They've been working their way up, having recently started going for 4-5 hour stretches. But for the first glorious time, I awoke at 6 am not to babies crying but fear in my heart when I realized it had been SIX HOURS since I'd last heard a peep. I nearly killed myself rushing to CJ's side of the bed to make sure the monitor was still on. And it was. I held my breath and ran to their room like a bat out of hell. I placed my hands on their chests, fearing the worst. Sure enough they were breathing. Just sleeping. Simply sleeping through the night for the first time ever.
Thank you, little ladies. You must have known that Mama was nearing the edge of her sanity.
Granted, I only got about six hours myself as I was up until 12:30 pumping and had to start pumping when I woke up at 6 (holy painful boobs, batman). But seriously, I feel like a whole new woman. Ready to take on the world, or at least for now the dishes in the sink.
I know not to count all my eggs before they hatch. This could be a fluke. In fact I am going to say it was a fluke and prevent jinxing myself. Tonight they will regress. In fact, tonight they won't sleep at all, I bet. 'Cuz that's life with twin infants. But I will forever cherish the fact that we have got one official sleep-through-the-night under our belts. Good job, girls, you've earned a gold star for today.
When did your babies first sleep through the night? Did you wake up in panic mode like me?
Xo,
M
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