I got interviewed by Practical Parenting magazine this week. It's nice to be able to share our story and reflect on how far we have come.
The focus of the story was going to be living with sleep deprivation but I am not sure if I was able to give enough insightful commentary on that side of things. Not because I don't know enough about it but because after a mediocre night, at 10am when they called, my brain hadn't woken up and I felt like I was sturuggling to put coherant sentences together
It's funny how speaking to a person not involved in the situation makes you realise how insane it must seem from an outsiders perspective.
What goes through your mind when havnig a baby at 5 months pregnant? How do you not end up in a psych ward after over 7 months of daily hospital visits? How do you not fall asleep at the wheel driving to countless medical appointments weeks of waking every hour or two?
Hearing the story come out of my mouth, I know it all sounds incredibly traumatic and difficult. If you follow my blog, it must sound like my life is awful and how do I drag myself out of bed every day. It was probably pretty traumatic, I won't pretend like it was ordinary, but even at the time I remember thinking "This should be a lot harder, there should be more misery and more prolonged tears". Reality is, life continues around you and you get sucked up into it.
I remember so clearly, the day my Opa (grandfather) died, I looked out the window into the traffic and was honest to god shocked that the rest of the world was just going about its daily business. How dare those people not have cancelled their plans for the day. Who was that insensitive couple laughing as they walked past. The feeling lasted a few days. I had the same thing for a little bit with Nico, but not long... Brooklyn's life went on as per normal and therefore mine did too. I would have loved to curl up foetal position in bed and not get up for days just to recover, but on top of 19 month old Brooklyn's needs, there was expressing to be done, trips to the hospital had to be made. I was grateful for the To Do list, it gave me direction I needed toget back into life... and apart from not living with my newborn baby and having to visit him, life felt normal within a few weeks. It stayed feeling normal most days of the entire 7 months.
So I know I use my blog as an outlet and therefore I most likely write more about the crappy side as that is the bit that needs outing. I don't want anyone thinking I get out of bed in the morning and lead a miserable existance, feel sorry for myself and only face the day because I have to. I get huge amounts of joy from both kids and as hard as it is dragging myself out of bed after 3-6 hours of broken sleep, most of the time by mid nappy-change-upon-Nicos-wake-up, there is a smile on my face as I curse his cheeky grin and how he looks like he has just woken from 12 straight hours of sleep.
The focus of the story was going to be living with sleep deprivation but I am not sure if I was able to give enough insightful commentary on that side of things. Not because I don't know enough about it but because after a mediocre night, at 10am when they called, my brain hadn't woken up and I felt like I was sturuggling to put coherant sentences together
It's funny how speaking to a person not involved in the situation makes you realise how insane it must seem from an outsiders perspective.
What goes through your mind when havnig a baby at 5 months pregnant? How do you not end up in a psych ward after over 7 months of daily hospital visits? How do you not fall asleep at the wheel driving to countless medical appointments weeks of waking every hour or two?
Hearing the story come out of my mouth, I know it all sounds incredibly traumatic and difficult. If you follow my blog, it must sound like my life is awful and how do I drag myself out of bed every day. It was probably pretty traumatic, I won't pretend like it was ordinary, but even at the time I remember thinking "This should be a lot harder, there should be more misery and more prolonged tears". Reality is, life continues around you and you get sucked up into it.
I remember so clearly, the day my Opa (grandfather) died, I looked out the window into the traffic and was honest to god shocked that the rest of the world was just going about its daily business. How dare those people not have cancelled their plans for the day. Who was that insensitive couple laughing as they walked past. The feeling lasted a few days. I had the same thing for a little bit with Nico, but not long... Brooklyn's life went on as per normal and therefore mine did too. I would have loved to curl up foetal position in bed and not get up for days just to recover, but on top of 19 month old Brooklyn's needs, there was expressing to be done, trips to the hospital had to be made. I was grateful for the To Do list, it gave me direction I needed toget back into life... and apart from not living with my newborn baby and having to visit him, life felt normal within a few weeks. It stayed feeling normal most days of the entire 7 months.
So I know I use my blog as an outlet and therefore I most likely write more about the crappy side as that is the bit that needs outing. I don't want anyone thinking I get out of bed in the morning and lead a miserable existance, feel sorry for myself and only face the day because I have to. I get huge amounts of joy from both kids and as hard as it is dragging myself out of bed after 3-6 hours of broken sleep, most of the time by mid nappy-change-upon-Nicos-wake-up, there is a smile on my face as I curse his cheeky grin and how he looks like he has just woken from 12 straight hours of sleep.
Hey Kaz,
ReplyDeleteI met you at the blog meet a little while back, I have info on respite and packages for you, can you drop me an email if you're interested? kstoner@bsl.org.au
love ya
xo Kelly