Sleep while you can
So real. So very very very fucking real. Mine just turned 2 and has only just started sleeping properly. Most nights.
The first half a year nearly broke me. I haven’t entirely recovered, seven years on. Sleep dep is the great enemy.
Mine was rock solid from 6 months to almost 3 years, when latent ADHD broke the spell and laid low my highly disciplined bedtime regimen.
My kid is the morning lark to my night owl, fully time blind, restless to the point of disability, and haunted by bad dreams. I’ve got no right answers to that. Bags under his eyes at seven. Wish I knew how to improve his sleep to how it was 5 years ago. He used to sleep like a rock from 7pm to 7am, every single night, even if I had loud guests. I miss it.
🫂
For both you and him. I’ve got a severe circadian rhythm disorder- that’s absolutely brutal. 🫂
I just had six days with grandchildren 2 & 6 (parents were in Alaska) and I have no idea how I did this before.
Dad of four kids and two grandchildren. Enjoy every minute of sleep. Take a nap in the middle of the day for no reason other than you’re bored. Remember that day. It will get you through the dark times. 🤣
Edit: don’t get me wrong. It was totally worth it. These little creatures will make you swell with love, cry harder than you ever have, laugh until your sides ache, and then become teenagers that think you’re stupid and not worth the space you are taking up. Until they have kids of their own and gain some respect for all the crap they put you through.
Yes I’m a dude so take this advice with a grain of salt but don’t worry about the childbirth part. Yes it sucks at the moment, but it’s over before you know it. At least that’s what the women tell me.
Reminds me of this from the before-times:
Mom: Dad! Come help with the kid!
Dad: I can’t, I have to do data entry!
Pro tip right there.
Just take a nap until your water breaks. :)
Given I’m a dude, I’d be okay with this
This is really true. The sleep deprivation is probably the hardest part. My first kid would fall asleep with his eyes open so if you moved, HE. WOKE. UP.
My heart quails
You’re gonna do great. Laugh it off. Congrats.
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They’ve got some pretty good drugs now. Just, like, have your hospital and your doctor picked out well in advance. Don’t skip your lamaze classes. It’s not fun, but you’ll make it through. And the best part is that your brain releases chemicals so you forget the worst bits.
The real part about being a parent is the next twenty years.
About your brain chemicals rewriting reality: I remember giving birth as totally chill time, nothing difficult, all smooth. While I also know for a fact I was crying that I couldn’t make it and my kid ended up overnight at the NICU. Somehow, your brain still tells you “all is great”
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Gen X:
May I interest you in an Aiden, Braiden, Camden, or something else that ends in a den, don, or dan?
Hunter. 🤢
Colt, Gunner, Glockleigh
Ethyn
wish I could think of something funny to say. medicine is pretty good these days so I’m sure you’ll be fine.
A good friend of mine had her first recently at the age of 36 and it all went well! And she hasn’t complained about the pain and physical consequences as much as she has about sleeplessness, lol. God willing, it should be fine. And thank you for your service! 😁❤️
Service?
Baking, raising and loving the little ones, with great risks to one’s health and sacrificing the more superficial wants and ‘free time’, is probably one of the greatest services one can do for mankind, right? 😅
Pregnant and honestly terrified?
silver liningsYou’ll pull through. Just hope it happens at a normal time of day. My mother said the worst part was that borh of my 2 younger brothers decided that they want out at like 3 in the morning.
Congrats and good luck! You’ll do fine!
Seriously, though, congratulations and good luck. I hope we have stories of parenthood to look forward to after you catch up on sleep.
There’s a medium happy “being pregnant” missing in the middle :)
But congratulations. Advice from my wife: take all the pain medication they offer you
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More common to shit on the baby than You think
Enjoy it as much as you can, none of us knew WTF we were doing the first time.
I can’t speak for the birthing part, but you’ll do fine OP. Every mother has gone through this, and they likely all shared the same worries and concerns. When the time comes, you’ll have a whole team around you helping you through the process.
Others touch on the sleep deprivation after, and that’s a real thing, especially for moms since they have to feed the baby every time. For our first, I was was up every time with my wife, for moral support. I felt pretty useless, but at least we were in it together. One time she was talking to me while feeding baby shovel (trowel?) and I fell asleep during her sentence for exactly one head nod and loud snore before waking up. It’s tough. The first 6-8 months is a grind, but after that things settle down a bit and you really get to enjoy them.
For our second, we tried doing sleep shifts, so she’d be up with him early on, and I’d be up for 3-4 hours later so she got some consistent sleep - she said that was the better approach
