Need more sleep

I wish my bedroom looked as fly as this...

No matter what time I go to bed, I always wake up feeling like my head hit the pilllow five minutes ago. You should hear the cursing that goes on in my head when I roll over toward the window and see the sun coming up. It ain’t pretty.

And don’t get me started on my alarm clock. I don’t even need it. My body won’t let me sleep past 5:45, no matter what time I go to bed. I wake up every day at 5:30. But then I roll over and try to squeeze some rest out of that last half-hour.  

It never works. 

My quality of sleep has plummeted dramatically since I’ve had kids - no, since I’ve been pregnant – and it’s killing me.

Damn, how I wish I could go to bed at the end of a long, draining day, without having to tend to the needs of my little ones. Some days I hit that front door after work and I contemplate heading straight up to the bedroom and closing the door.  

Why is this? Why is motherhood (hell, adulthood) so draining? Why didn’t anyone tell me? Folks warn you about the sleepless nights during those first months, but damn, I’ve been in this motherhood thing two years now. Both my kids sleep through the night. Ideally, I should be rested. But again, it doesn’t matter what time I go to bed, if I get four hours or ten. 

What’s your secret to feeling well-rested? Do you have one? Or am I searching for something that doesn’t exist?

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Author:Tara

After becoming a mom at 21, Tara decided to turn her personal story into a movement to create more opportunities for other young mothers.

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7 Responses to “Need more sleep”

  1. kaye
    May 20, 2009 at 2:01 am #

    Let me know when you find out how to get a full night’s rest. My smallest is 4 and still, I’m not getting enough. I feel like I’ll never sleep well again.

    • Tara
      May 20, 2009 at 4:37 pm #

      @ Kaye – “I feel like I’ll never sleep well again.” You just summed it up in a nutshell. That’s it exactly.

  2. May 20, 2009 at 3:26 am #

    OMG! I really don’t think it exists… well, maybe for some mother out there, but surely not me. I can’t remember the last time I’ve felt well-rested. Doesn’t matter how much sleep I get either, I AM ALWAYS TIRED!! This is a problem. Please let me know when you find a solution to spending days in a fog, lol.

    • Tara
      May 20, 2009 at 4:36 pm #

      @ Ms. Bar B – We need to form a research team around this to figure out how moms can get more sleep. It’s not fair, all we have to do each day and then to be operating like if we close our eyes for a minute we will fall asleep!

  3. May 20, 2009 at 12:43 pm #

    My kids are 3.5 and 2, and I’m just now starting to feel rested again. Part of my problem has been that I tend to burn the candle at both ends – I’ll stay up until midnight or one am to do something, then I’m wrecked the next day.

    Try getting up at 5:30 for a while. I know it sounds counter-intuitive, but if your body is saying, “Get up!” and you listen, you may feel better than if you get those extra 15 minutes.

    Also, coffee. Lots of coffee.

    • Tara
      May 20, 2009 at 4:35 pm #

      @Amy – You are just like me. I work full-time, then I do the Mommy thing for a little bit from 5-8 then the wife thing from 8-9:30ish, then I write until about 11, midnight. Then I get up 5:30. NOT ENOUGH SLEEP. I’m sitting here seriously contemplating getting a new mattress, new pillows, new sheets – the works. I don’t drink coffee, but I have a co-worker who swears by tea and another who swears by Five Hour Energy shots – have you heard of them? I probably just need to go to bed earlier, but really, I don’t have any time to myself until the kids go to sleep. It feels like a waste to go right to bed after they do…

  4. May 28, 2009 at 6:08 pm #

    When you find the secret, please share it! My quality of sleep has also suffered starting in pregnancy and continues to suck today. lol. I did think it would get better once DS started sleeping thru the night… but, looks like from this post, that may be wishful thinking! Hehe!

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