Exhausted....

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That word pretty much sums up how I felt yesterday. Isaac used to be good about giving this mama a four hour stretch in the middle of the night. A four hour stretch does not mean that I actually get four hours of sleep.  The way nursing schedule works is the clock starts the second he starts nursing. So for example: if Isaac wakes up and nurses at 2am then a four hour stretch would mean he'd want to nurse again at 6am. So by the time he nurses, burps, gets his diaper changed and falls back asleep we're looking at 30-60 minutes. So a four hour stretch generally gives me about 3 hours of sleep. A 3 hour stretch gives me 2 hours.... a  2.5 hour stretch gives me 1.5. This is give or take. Like I said sometimes this whole feeding, changing, burping thing doesn't take that long.

Did you get all that? I might have to quiz you later.

What I can say is that I do have an efficient eater. I've heard of moms who nurse for 40-60 minutes. Not Isaac. He averages about 10 -15 minutes total before he's done. It used to freak me out. I'd constantly worry he wasn't eating enough. But he continues to gain and rather quickly too. I mentioned that he had a weight check and gained another 7 ounces. Thats 7 ounces in a week. The nurse that came to the house said she was expecting 3 or 4. She was both shocked and happy to see the 7 ounces. At any rate I felt like the bear in this picture.



Anyway... back to the original purpose of this post. Yesterday I was exhausted. Isaac was nursing closer to every 2.5 to 3 hours and taking forever to fall back asleep which meant I was getting little sleep. Now call me a bad parent if you want but I will generally snuggle Isaac for a short time after nursing and then put him back to bed while he's still awake. He always has a clean diaper and a full tummy when I do this. I am not neglecting him or anything. He can get a little fussy when I do this but I think in the long run its going to be better. I don't want him to get used to falling asleep because mommy or daddy is holding or rocking him. I want him to get used to falling asleep on his own when he's in his bed. Obviously if he is super fussy then I will pick him up and soothe him but i'd say 98% of the time he might fuss for a little bit at first then fall asleep.

It was taking Isaac forever to fall asleep yesterday. He wasn't even fussy he just wanted to be awake. He was cooing and making noises (what I like to call "talking to me"). I'd feed him, burp him and change him THEN he'd stay awake for what seemed like an hour then just as I fell asleep he'd wake up and be hungry again. I kept telling Isaac, "Mommy's really tired Isaac. You should let her sleep." But he didn't listen to me. haha!





At 11am I thought I should probably get up and eat something. Once I was finished eating I kept trying to find a good time to sneak in a workout but I felt like Isaac needed my constant attention which I don't mind one bit. I love spending time with my little guy. But finally he fell asleep and I decided that if I didn't try then strength training probably wasn't going to happen. I changed and managed to just finish my workout when he woke up again.

I so badly wanted to go for a run when Dan got home but I just couldn't find the energy. Instead I took a bath something I haven't been able to do for 6 weeks because of my surgery, hung out with Dan for a bit and pumped. Dan had the next feeding duty so I went to bed. While it took forever for me to fall asleep I did wake up this morning feeling rested. I already did my strength training (yes I am quite sore but can still pick Isaac up. haha). I am trying a new chili recipe tonight (recipe to follow later) and the plan is to have it cooking when Dan gets home so I can do a quick run before we eat.

Moms (or dads) how do you manage being a mommy and getting exercise in when you feel like you don't have time? What works best for you?