Grandmas to the Rescue

Thank God for mothers - or in our case, the grandmothers. Kathy’s mother stayed over Monday night, my mother last night - holding down the graveyard shift so Kathy and I could get a decent night’s sleep. It’s easy to forget, but between June 17th and 18th, Kathy and I had about 40-42 hour day before getting what might best be described as “some” sleep. Kathy was knocked out on meds, I was at home nervous about her situation and tense about not being with my new son in his first few days. Two nights of shoddy sleep were followed by our first two nights at home with Kole and virtually no sleep. We knew coming into this that sleep deprivation was part of the gig. But, the 20-hour labor, lasting until sun-up the next morning was something we hadn’t factored in. So, yesterday morning we had enough sleep to be a little more refreshed and were able to spend the day doing laundry and other chores that were basically on hold since the previous Monday. I think we did 8 or 9 loads of laundry. We had repairmen over for the air conditioner and our hot tub. Last night we got the batteries charged a little more. Of course - Kole only cried when he was hungry, my mom gave him the bottle, he pooped, she changed it, he was back wiped out. My mom said SHE slept great. So, that’s encouraging as it’s back on our shoulders now. But, it’s nice to have our legs back underneath us after an intense 6 or 7 day stretch with little or no sleep.
Labor, as it turns out, was a major pain in the neck for Kathy. She has suddenly developed a major case of neck and upper back pain. Think of the pregnant mother in the labor-pushing position - craning her neck forward to push and push. Now picture Kathy doing that for nearly two hours. It was like three weeks of neck aerobics crammed into 2 hours, and now she’s starting to feel it. That’s what caused her some sleep trouble last night.
But, two Grandmas got a good overdose of Kole time, and we were able to get our batteries reasonably recharged and are now ready to get back on the graveyard shift ourselves. My mom brought over my favorite homemade lasagne and I think we are officially set.