May 18, 2008

The trouble with men

So it's 2:00 a.m. on a Saturday night and I'm here at my home computer. You may be asking yourself "Why, Nurse Lochia, are you typing a new post and not at work? Don't you work every Saturday and Sunday night for premium pay as a labor nurse?" Very good question, very good question indeed. The answer, my dear readers, is because the baby was screaming. Yep, screaming. Long story short, I left work because husband thought that something was wrong with Isaiah and he needed to go to the ER because he wouldn't quit screaming. And husband is "Soooo freaking tired". Yeah, that makes 2 of us, except he gets to sleep every night and the nights I'm here, I get up with the baby. But, I acknowledge he probably is tired. And never mind when I had my own little break down Friday because of my severe lack of sleep, he offered to get up with Isaiah. But when Isaiah did wake up, husband did not. And I could not arouse him. So I got up and was up from 3:00 a.m. on after only getting him to sleep since 12:30 while husband slumbered since 10:30. I do love my husband dearly, but man he can irk me. But anyway, I left work, wondering if husband was just freaking out or if there was something really wrong. Leaning toward something wrong because, really, Isaiah isn't fussy, just wants to be held. Keep in mind, too, that I've called husband before to come home from his work and he won't. So I walk in the door and guess what I hear? Silence. Dead Silence. And they are both sleeping on the couch. I take the baby, look him over to make sure there's nothing obviously wrong, which there is not, and he promptly falls right back asleep. I sent husband to bed because I'm not missing out on my full day of sleep later today because he had a freak out. I've seriously averaged 3 hours of sleep every 24 hours for the last week. I'm tired. More like exhausted. And now I'm irritated. But, now that I've gotten that off my chest, I feel better and I think I'll go to bed after I call my co-workers to let them know Isaiah is just fine.


sara said...

I'm glad the little one is okay, but I'm sorry you had to come home. Hope you get a little rest this weekend :-)

Labor Nurse, CNM said...

its amazing to me the lack of coping skills men have sometimes. My husband and I are having the "baby talks" and he is so scared of losing sleep. He's scared in general, but his first comment about the issue was "I'm on sleep medication; I can't get up at night!" I told him that seeing he wouldn't be lactating, don't worry about it. But breastfeeding or not, I know that he would never get up to attend to a baby in the middle of the night; a crying baby that wouldn't stop would really do him in!

I hope that you have managed to sleep some.

Anonymous said...

Labor Nurse is so right, men just don't have the coping skills that women do, it's pretty pathetic. My husband doesn't sleep, he falls into a nightly coma. Something must happen to him when he goes past that magical 45 degree angle on his way down onto the bed.

It's frustrating! I can see why some women chose to have a wife instead. Much more productive sometimes! LOL!

I hope you get some sleep... Glad the lil' one's ok!

AwkwardMoments said...

OH No. You ppoor thing. I am glad your husband is still alive and hte baby is all well. I am afraid i will be typing this blog in role reversal very soon

Elizabeth Shepard said...

Geez, that would have sent me through the roof. It's probably my biggest fear about having kids - that the lack of sleep could seriously hurt my marriage. Both dh and I are very grouchy and snappy when we are tired and sleep deprived, and we'll both be working. I don't think it matters whether or not I breastfeed, because dh is a VERY light sleeper and can't always go back to sleep when awoken.

All I can do is hope that the level of sustained exhaustion teaches him to sleep when he can and go to bed earlier myself.

You have my deepest sympathy!

Molly said...

I'm so very sorry. I can feel how tired you are and am having little flashbacks to when my toddler was tiny and my husband and I were both working way-more-than-full-time and we were hitting walls and couldn't give ourselves a break. Couldn't you just hit people when they say things like "Get some rest" or "Be kind to yourself" (like, how, exactly?)? But it's pretty amazing how far we can push ourselves to keep these little babies happy, healthy, and safe. At least you can feel like a really, really, really, really good mom.

Hang in there.