Preparing for no sleep
After just two hours and fifteen minutes of sleep my alarm went off this morning. I wasn’t really sure I had actually even fallen asleep at all. The combo of too much coffee, too late in the day yesterday afternoon and work-related stress just wouldn’t let me shut down at night. As I lay there last night staring at the shadows on the ceiling I couldn’t help but wonder if that’s how it’s going to be when the little sprout arrives.
Within fifteen minutes of getting in to the office this morning a coworker said that his kids woke him at three that morning.
“See what you’re in for?” he laughed.
“Awesome.”
I made it through the day just fine, but I suppose it was a good dry run and at least I know I can operate on very little sleep.
Tags: coffee, sleep, work_related_stressRelated Stories
POSTED IN: General
4 opinions for Preparing for no sleep
brent
Aug 8, 2007 at 12:06 am
Hi,
Can I give you some advice? Lose coffee altogether right now. Caffeine screws with your ability to ever fully wake up - I lived life in a constant caffeine-hangover until I stopped having it, and the funny thing was that I didn’t REALISE I had this hangover until I cut out the caffeine.
I was having a LOT of caffeine. We’re talking 3-5 double espressos a day at work, minimum. This was on top of cola, or any coffee that I’d have at home. So, maybe I was an extreme case.
My warning to you, where you write “at least I know I can operate on very little sleep”, all you know so far is that you can operate for 24 hours without sleep. Tomorrow you’ll go to bed early and be good, or you’ll sleep in on the weekend, or you’ll take it easy, or you’ll zone out in the evening and not get any chores done at all.
When you’re baby wakes up EVERY 3 or 4 hours for the next eight months (my first as 8 months old the first time he slept through the night, and even then we’re not convinced that we didn’t just both sleep straight through his screaming.), you won’t have any of those chances. Even if your wife is the one getting up to actually feed the baby, you’ll wake up. Even if you only get up every other night, or you take it in turns to sleep in on Saturday morning… your sleep bank has just vanished.
So - my advice: cut out caffeine now. You’ll have exactly one week of depression and headaches, then on day 8 you’ll be able to cope with zerp sleep without going into that dehydrated, headachy, fuzzy, zombie-land of extreme fatigue. Don’t get me wrong, you still get tired, it’s just that it’s not so debilitating.
Jennifer
Aug 8, 2007 at 4:10 am
“I couldn’t help but wonder if that’s how it’s going to be when the little sprout arrives”
I’m so sorry; but it will be so much worse. It will be weeks of this on end. I can’t say ditch the coffee because it saves me a lot but I will say get in good physical shape, you know besides the coffee issue ;)
Exercise and get fit and get that fridge stocked with ready to cook meals before the sprout arrives. You’ll need it.
Eric S. Mueller
Aug 8, 2007 at 6:45 am
I typically limit myself to 2 cups of coffee first thing in the morning. I keep decaf around for evenings if I feel like I need the coffee flavor. I know it does have a small amount of caffeine.
I agree with the previous poster that one night is no comparison. My youngest will be two this Saturday and he still doesn’t sleep through the night. I’m running on about four nights now of constantly interrupted sleep. I can remember one time when my oldest was still a baby that I had a headache for three straight days because he wouldn’t let us go to sleep long enough for the headache to go away.
In both cases for us, the four month set of shots led to more than a month of screaming all night long. At four months old a baby will get most of his or her shots and this series affected both of our kids for three to five weeks.
The joys of fatherhood are wonderful and I would not trade them for anything. There is a dark side though, and NOTHING can prepare you for it. Don’t bother trying to make “run thrus” now. They are a waste of time. Just enjoy your sleep while you can get it.
brent
Aug 9, 2007 at 10:39 pm
My other advice: say ‘goodbye, see you on the other side’ to your partner.
By which I mean to say that now is the time to reaffirm your love and commitment to your partener - before the screaming and the sleeplessness kick in. The first year of being a parent can be a real strain on a relationship, and it’s important that you both know WHY you’re in the relationship.
Having the kid changes the fundamental nature of your relationship - it has to - but if you go into it with a clear of understanding of your love, then you’ve got a fair chance of coming out the other side relatively unscathed.
That’s my
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