When you have three children and another on the way, and a husband who does occasional shift work, you never really expect to have regular good night’s sleep. I remember, from when Chance was about six months old, “helpful” people were insisting that he should be sleeping through the night and not waking up every two hours for a feed. I would go to bed every night for the next 7-8 months, hoping, wishing, praying that tonight would be the night I’d get a full night sleep.

I actually remember the first night he slept through, I still woke up every two hours of course and by 3am I was so full of breast milk that I ended up giving him a dream feed just to relieve the pain! And just hoped that he stayed asleep (he did!)

Ever since then, with two more babies added to the household, a full night sleep for me is a stretch of five uninterrupted hours. And when I get that (maybe once a week??) I tell you I feel like a million bucks!

Last night was not one of those nights. I feel like every time I got settled and started getting into that nice deep sleep, I got ripped out of it by cries of neediness.

I need a blanket on. I need some water. I need you to take me to the toilet. I need to get into bed with you. I need to wake you up because I noticed you were drifting off to sleep again.

What I need to do on mornings after nights like this, is to jump out of bed, armed with a PMA (positive mental attitude) and a plan for the morning so I can start the day well. What I in fact did, was ignore the children and let my good friend Kate step into parenting for me. She’s the best.

I might still have time for a quick nap now…