When I think of the first year with my first child, I can not help but think of one word: sleep.
The next thought that comes to my mind is "How did I survive that first year and still be in my right mind?"
During my pregnancy there was only one book that was considered "recommended reading" and I devoured it. What to Expect When You're Expecting only focused on one big subject: the pregnancy. Of course a pregnancy is a big deal, no doubt about it. Getting some insight into what can be expected of each phase of gestation can be a comfort to the anxious mother-to-be.
But guess what? Last I checked, a pregnancy is only about 9 months long. The next step beyond pregnancy lasts a heck of a lot longer than a few months and you do not have the time or energy to devour books any longer. Rather than guiding me towards books about pregnancy, I would have really appreciated early childhood development book recommendations. Granted, I probably would not have jumped at the chance to read about the first 6 months of a child's life because I no doubt would have thought the "challenge" of raising a child wouldn't come until they were at least three years old. You know, when that whiny phase starts.
Yeah, I guess it's kind of obvious how truly inadequate my knowledge was about kids up to that point.
Matt did not sleep more than 10 hours in a 24-hour period until he was nearly 8 months old. Those 10 hours were never sequential. Ever. His "naps" were 15 minute bursts of rest, then those big blue eyes would pop open for hours at a time. He was 4 months old and not closing his eyes for the "night" until Midnight. That's when I first started to think something was "wrong"...an hour (or less) he would be back to awake mode for at least 30 minutes, then off to sleep for 45 minutes, then awake, then asleep.
Then morning. Over and over, day after day, night after night.
I began asking questions of other moms about the lack of sleep all of us were getting and most moms seemed to have no idea what I was talking about. While their little ones weren't necessarily sleeping through the night at an early age, they were at least taking their regularly scheduled naps and were sleeping for several hours at a time.
Mercifully, a number of books were recommended and I purchased or borrowed all of them. Then I read all of them. Every single book. Challenging? To say the least. Necessary? Absolutely!
My struggle with gentleness began to rear its ugly head during those agonizingly long nights with my little guy. I began to have a much deeper compassion and understanding for those parents who had no support, who had to work long hours, who struggled to pay the bills.
Raising a child in any circumstance has it's challenges and while I didn't have to struggle to make ends meet every day, I could only imagine how my gentleness towards my child would be affected if I did.
During my pregnancy there was only one book that was considered "recommended reading" and I devoured it. What to Expect When You're Expecting only focused on one big subject: the pregnancy. Of course a pregnancy is a big deal, no doubt about it. Getting some insight into what can be expected of each phase of gestation can be a comfort to the anxious mother-to-be.
But guess what? Last I checked, a pregnancy is only about 9 months long. The next step beyond pregnancy lasts a heck of a lot longer than a few months and you do not have the time or energy to devour books any longer. Rather than guiding me towards books about pregnancy, I would have really appreciated early childhood development book recommendations. Granted, I probably would not have jumped at the chance to read about the first 6 months of a child's life because I no doubt would have thought the "challenge" of raising a child wouldn't come until they were at least three years old. You know, when that whiny phase starts.
Yeah, I guess it's kind of obvious how truly inadequate my knowledge was about kids up to that point.
Matt did not sleep more than 10 hours in a 24-hour period until he was nearly 8 months old. Those 10 hours were never sequential. Ever. His "naps" were 15 minute bursts of rest, then those big blue eyes would pop open for hours at a time. He was 4 months old and not closing his eyes for the "night" until Midnight. That's when I first started to think something was "wrong"...an hour (or less) he would be back to awake mode for at least 30 minutes, then off to sleep for 45 minutes, then awake, then asleep.
Then morning. Over and over, day after day, night after night.
I began asking questions of other moms about the lack of sleep all of us were getting and most moms seemed to have no idea what I was talking about. While their little ones weren't necessarily sleeping through the night at an early age, they were at least taking their regularly scheduled naps and were sleeping for several hours at a time.
Mercifully, a number of books were recommended and I purchased or borrowed all of them. Then I read all of them. Every single book. Challenging? To say the least. Necessary? Absolutely!
My struggle with gentleness began to rear its ugly head during those agonizingly long nights with my little guy. I began to have a much deeper compassion and understanding for those parents who had no support, who had to work long hours, who struggled to pay the bills.
Raising a child in any circumstance has it's challenges and while I didn't have to struggle to make ends meet every day, I could only imagine how my gentleness towards my child would be affected if I did.
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1 comment:
I love this post!! Thank you!!
http://alexthinking1.blogspot.com/
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