I am sleep deprived!

Ok! I am sleep deprived! I sleep about 3.5 hrs, broken into two segments, per day. Last week with the stupid single pumping, I ended up not getting any sleep at all, as I need an hour to an hour and a half to pump for each feeding. Since the feeding is three hours apart, as soon as I finish pumping, I get to rest for half an hour at most (usually that's the time I take a shower, check e-mails, update my blog and enjoy a cup of decaff coffee) before my next pumping session. Last week was a living hell for me!

Doing the night feedings are exhausting. I hate the 2:30am feeding. Bethany is often sound asleep around that time, and it takes quite some time to wake her up, change her diaper before feeding her. Fortunately mom is always up to help out with the 2:30am feeding, so I do not feel I am alone in this. Knowing that mom will be leaving in the beginning of October, and Joe needs his 7.5 hrs of beauty sleep (from 10pm till 5:15am) every night, I can't even imagine what life would be like after mom leaves!

Earlier this week I got the double breast pump and it makes my new career as a pumping mom much easier. I can express 3oz of milk in 20 mins (last week it took me an hour to an hour and a half to get the same amount of milk) and I am no longer as stressed out as last week. I think I have better control of the time. For the first time since Bethany is home, I managed to be able to walk my dog in the morning and get out of the house once and run errands! It just feels good!

One thing weird though... I have dreams about pumping too! These dreams are not necessarily nightmares. In all these dreams, I am always pumping (gosh I am even pumping in my sleeps!) and when I wake up in the middle of the night, often time, I am very confused as I thought I have already expressed the milk. It takes me a few minutes to differentiate between reality and dreams. Hence, I want to sleep (a.k.a. R.E.S.T. which is a luxury for me these days!) but at the same time, I do not wash to dream about pumping!

Last time I had a continuous 6 hrs of sleep.... it was the night prior to the c-section! Though it was only a few weeks ago... seems like it was decades ago and I can't even remember how good it was to be able to sleep through the night!

Until then.... my DeLonghi stainless steel coffee maker and Poppybean's decaff coffee are my B.E.S.T. B.U.D.D.I.E.S.!