Night Shifts

Last night was a milestone --
Graham slept through the night for the first time, at 11 weeks old. He went to bed at 10p and woke up at 5:30a. FINALLY -- 7 glorious hours of uninterrupted sleep for mom.

I've been bitching and moaning about the disproportionate number of night shifts I was given within my first weeks back from maternity leave, compared with the other full time ER docs at my hospital (except for the full time night guy, of course)... yes, I count. So much for cutting the new mom (and baby, and dad) some slack! The first day back to work was hard enough, but the first night back was heartbreaking. All I could think about was my little newborn baby waking up in the night and looking for the comfort of my boob, only to find a silicone nipple... Not to mention my concern for Dad, who doesn't handle sleep deprivation as well as I do, having to be up throughout the night and then work the next day.

Well, we all made it through my night shifts on Wednesday and Thursday. Then, wouldn't you know, after all my stressing and worrying about the deleterious effects of night shifts on Graham, he goes and gets his best night of sleep ever on Friday! After two nights of waking up to silicone, I guess he decided he'd be better off to just sleep. I never read about working nights as a way to make your baby sleep in any of the "How to be the perfect mom and do everything just right" reference books (usually written by men); but if I have to work these damn night shifts, at least there are small victories like this to help get me through.

Hopefully he'll do it again tonight, since I'm scheduled for work tomorrow at 7a. Go Graham!

P.S. It just occurred to me to make this blog anonymous so I don't run into patient confidentiality issues. And that way if I complain about work a little like I just did, (hey, everyone has a few complaints, right?) I won't have to worry.