My nights with Jake

After sharing how our day's pretty much like, here's how our nights are.

I don't fall asleep quickly. I'll lie on the bed and try to not feel uncomfortable (depending on how warm the night is - windy nights are the best!) and I also arch my back and let it creak as it's achey (my posture is not the best). I then start to surf on my iPhone - blogs, FB, anything really... and it'll lull me to sleepiness. I think I usually fall asleep between 10 to 12, depending on what time I am done with my chat with the husband (or not - as in the case last night when I put Kate to sleep and ended up falling asleep beside her in her room until the husband came in and woke me up at 11.30pm).

So far, Jake wakes up on an average of 3 to 5 times each night. I don't really know the time that he wakes up, but it's about every 2-3 hours and each time I wake up, I'm up for at least 35 minutes.

Most times, I'd be aware of his shuffling about in bed (he'd fidget and wave his arms around much) and before he cries, I'd feed him. There's been a couple of occasions where I'm so tired that I only get awakened by his cries - I wonder how much he's had to fidget before he lost his patience and started to wail - then I'd spring up in bed and feed him. I have an SOP now where I know where every item I require is. I'll prop up the pillow I was lying on, pick up a small cushion and prop it against my back for support, I'll pick up the feeding U-shaped pillow then place a nappy cloth on my arm before lifting Jake up and putting him on my arm. The nappy cloth serves multi-purposes - so that we don't perspire onto each other (more like from my icky arm onto his little head) and I also use it to wipe his mouth and sometimes the regurgitated milk from his loud burp.

The feed takes anything between 10-30minutes, depending on how awake either of us are. If I'm up to it, I'll latch him on both sides, or just longer on one. I don't really have a system. I just do it based on how full I guess my breasts are. Depending on how I'm feeling, I may engage the iPhone again while he feeds - this wakes my brain up and I'm semi-alert by the end of the feed. Then I'll try to burp him and that can take anything from a couple of seconds to 10minutes, or when I'm still half-asleep, I just carry him so that he's lying at a 45-degree angle, until I nearly fall asleep in that position, then I'll place him down. I then check his diapers and usually, he'll require a change and I'll have to get off the bed and by this time, I'm semi-awake already. I grab the mini pail to grab hot water from the kitchen and mix it so that the water is slightly warm, then I gather all that's required to clean him up and get him changed into a new, dry diaper. This will take about 5 minutes.

[Last night was a pretty awful night where he awoke every hour to an hour & a half and I confess, I didn't change his diapers but thank goodness he didn't poop and I pretty much crashed back to bed after every feed.]

By the time I'm done feeding, he's usually snoozing already and I'll place him down and cover him up and watch his tiny face. (I'm getting used to his face by now... does that make sense?) Then I replace the nappy by the corner of his cot, the feeding pillow and mini cushion by my side and lie back down again.

I then arch my back again (my body is so old, I know) to relieve it and depending on how alert I was before, it'd take a while before I hit the sack.

The final feeds are the hardest - especially if it's at 6am - where I know that by the time I'm done, it's nearly 7 and we'll all have to wake up already. Oh... boy.

Wash, rinse, repeat... till the next night.