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Donna
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| Posted: April 06 2006 at 7:40am | IP Logged
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Elizabeth wrote:
| Sure, I'd love to sleep more, but I have eight children who can keep me up on any given night and a husband who routinely returns home in the middle of the night or isn't home at all. |
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When my sister had her first son she was so sleep deprived that she was unable to function. I went to her home one afternoon for several hours and took care of the baby while she slept....and slept....and slept. I stayed until she got the sleep she desperately needed. It made a world of difference for her and she was able to start anew. Do you have someone who can come and stay with your kids (keep them engaged in something  ) while you spend an afternoon sleeping? It's only a temporary fix...but one that will give you a reprieve.
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Donna
DH, Keven
Jason, Stevie, Marie, Jackson, Clara, and Aaron
Jacob, Sam, and Regina with God
Grandbabies Leigha and Elsie
Moments Like These
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abcmommy
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| Posted: April 06 2006 at 8:44am | IP Logged
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Elizabeth, you sound like you need some sleep so badly. It seems to me that when pg you can barely rest anyway bc of the stirrings (not so gentle )inside and the aches and pains and physical discomfort.
Ask one of the elder children to step in and go take a nap! At least an hour a day maybe? do any of the small ones sleep still? you could curl up with them.
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Rachel May
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| Posted: April 06 2006 at 2:11pm | IP Logged
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I'm only way to the library to pick it up even though my kids are great sleepers due to our parenting style and genetics. My maiden name is Baer, and my whole family hibernates.
I also enjoyed your blog. Teens and our cultural attitude towards sleep are both discussed in Sleep Thieves, and the author agrees with you. He's a pretty smart guy....
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Rachel
Thomas and Anthony (10), Maria (8), Charles (6), Cecilia (5), James (3), and Joseph (1)
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ALmom
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| Posted: April 07 2006 at 4:56pm | IP Logged
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Elizabeth - just realized that you started this thread related to ideas in your own circumstances so my post came out all goofy. I hope you get some ideas for you in your situation because lack of sleep can contribute to the severe nausea too and you are certainly in a rough spot!!! I can only offer prayers - fighting moodiness is a life long struggle with me and lack of sleep seems to make it an impossibility.
Anyways, your circumstances are totally different than mine where my sleep deprivation is self inflicted. When the problem is something not of our own making, then God must somehow give the graces. Are there any hints in how various modern martyrs dealt with sleep deprivation? One of the aspects of communist torture was severe lack of sleep with interrogators constantly waking them in the middle of the night for questioning and/or torture with vivid light bulbs to keep them from sleep and never being allowed to lay down. Solzhenitsyn wrote about how lack of sleep was a very effective weapon by itself. Also, POWs sometimes experienced this. What about Cardinal Myszinsky (spelling?) - I would suspect he experienced some of this. You are certainly in good company - and I suspect that it is impossible unless God provides the means as it is beyond a human beings natural ability to deal with prolonged and severe lack of sleep. I am sure you are making your best effort.
Janet
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ShawnaB
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| Posted: April 08 2006 at 1:46pm | IP Logged
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Elizabeth, I too was encouraged by Helen's words, and even more so by her recent post on this thread. And while I am gratefully able to have sufficient sleep now, I do remember the times when I was so tired that my entire outlook on life was very bleak. I think it is helpful to be reminded that this IS a very difficult sacrifice of your physical body. I don't know about you, but I sometimes I tell myself, "come on, get over it...this can't be so bad...I should be able to deal with this..." But truly, lack of sleep is just so hard, and the effects are sometimes far reaching (illness, crankiness, nausea, depression.) I pray that you will know God's compassion and mercy and provision more than ever during this difficult time. And I pray that he will bring along others to help physically bear you burden. Here is a promise that I love:
Isaiah 40:11 He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young.
Truly, God loves you so much, and he is so compassionate towards you and all of your little ones during this time.
And and another note, here is a little humor regarding sleep deprivation as a method of torture...
I was recently discussing loss of sleep post-partum with a friend who had a very difficult time with her first baby. I mentioned that sleep deprivation was being used as a means to make Sadaam Hussein talk. She laughed and said "Well, if they really want results, they should also inject him full of hormones, sand his nipples, and then play a recording of a baby crying unceasingly. I'll bet that within 24 hours he'd be depressed, feeling guilty and inadequate, and telling us all where those weapons are hidden!"
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Shawna, wife of Jacob, mom to Abraham 8 Amelia 5 and Jillian & Jonathan age 3 years http://www.psalm121family.com
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kingvozzo
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| Posted: April 08 2006 at 2:59pm | IP Logged
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ShawnaB wrote:
I was recently discussing loss of sleep post-partum with a friend who had a very difficult time with her first baby. I mentioned that sleep deprivation was being used as a means to make Sadaam Hussein talk. She laughed and said "Well, if they really want results, they should also inject him full of hormones, sand his nipples, and then play a recording of a baby crying unceasingly. I'll bet that within 24 hours he'd be depressed, feeling guilty and inadequate, and telling us all where those weapons are hidden!"
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So true....
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Noreen
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Mom to 4 great kids and 10 sweet ones in Our Lady's arms
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Donna Marie
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| Posted: April 08 2006 at 4:43pm | IP Logged
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Elizabeth!!
my prayers are yours!! I suffered from severe insomnia while pregnant the last 3 times! I too would shake and my heart would race and I could feel the blood pulsing in my ears as I TRIED to sleep...I used lavender...everything, drank tripple strength chammomile tea and warm milk and in the end they put me on a very low dosage of sleep medication. I wanted to try valerian tea (extra strength sleepytime tea) but they are unsure of the valerian effects to a nursing child (which I had at the time and I didn't want to wean)...if it wasn't for that medication at the end, I never would have slept AT ALL! I tried so hard not to go the medication route, but I knew it would hurt the baby more if I didn't rest for her! When I couldn't sleep, I would get up and pace the floor with my rosaries and that physical exercise and the prayer would make me sleepy enought to TRY to get to sleep. I have no idea why my body did that to me, but I can tell you...it was not emotional stress as my clueless doctors gently suggested to me. It was some physical problem....I heard that the hypothalmus is next to the sleep center of the brain, so if there is some kind of imbalance you are awake...most especially at 1 or 2 am...but that is just MY story...I still remember trying to pray a Hail Mary in the hospital two days after delivery...I would find myself waking up...and not even knowing that I was falling asleep to begin with!
What I found to help was walking a lot! I held off the worst of the sleep issues for almost 6 months last time and the rest of the time wasn't quite so bad...I also ate very very healthy....no sugar...etc
I found the hardest thing to think about was those who would abort life from the womb and here I was saying yes and carying a heavy cross...so I offered it all up for the sanctity of life...it means more when you give it a purpose!
I KNOW how being pregnant and sleep deprived feels. I will keep you in my prayers!!
"The Will of God will never lead you were the Grace of God cannot keep you"
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God love you!
Donna Marie from NJ
hs momma to 9dc!!
Finding Elegant Simplicity
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4Real Forums : Tea and Conversation
Topic: Sleep Deprivation
