I was inspired by a post on Grayblog to say something that’s on my mind.
Someone with whom I have daily contact has a teenage son. Daily contact frequently involves some sort of joke drawn from the hat of *and you’ve got lack of sleep to look forward to in a few months* remarks.
I’m never quite sure how to respond. I could matter of factly say yes, I am aware that when I become a father in 3.5 months, there will be sleep loss of some degree. I don’t see much point in trying to fight it. Sleep loss is not something which I have a lot of experience of, so I don’t see much point in investing a lot of time worrying about it in advance. My expectations are almost certainly wrong.
I pick away at the issue like meat from a drumstick, and ultimately come to this final conclusion:
**If it wasn’t worth it, then we’d be extinct by now.**
7 replies on “Sleep Deprivation”
Sounds like good logic to me.
It is worth it zzzzzz.
What QE said.
I wouldn’t worry about it to much. You and Karen are going into this in the way wish I would when I got to that bridge. With a lot of common sense, and flexibility that your life is going to change.
Sure you’re going to be a bit tired on occasion. I don’t see that being a big issue for people like you and Karen, and I don’t think you are the kind of people who let something like a bit of being tired get in the way of being great parents, and the joy of all those first.
Next time someone says that to you, I would respond with a “No, seriously, you mean I’m not going to get much sleep? Shit you’re kidding right? Is it too late to stop this? Bugger, I had no idea.” etc.
Actually I thought babies did loads of sleeping, and we could just sleep at the same time he does. So we might even get more sleep, just not at the traditional times of day. Of course, I could be wrong about this.
Pete, you probably won’t have a problem with sleep deprivation unless you’re going to insist on being PC and being up as and when Karen is up. We were expecting it to be awful. 3 months in* and he’s sleeping for 10 hours at night and has been for the best part of a month.
Don’t know what they’re talking about!
*We’re lucky in this respect – other people with similar aged hatchlings aren’t having the same degree of luck.
PC never was my strong suit.
Remaining asleep through any disturbance, however? That could be considered to be a forte of mine.
Amongst the many things in your life that are about to change, Pete…