Sleepless Nights

Everyone we meet that has a kid, but not twins, always asks jokingly if we are getting any sleep. They think they can commiserate with us. It is when we run into the parents of twins that we receive the solemn look on the face with the sincere question of "Have you adjusted to the total lack of sleep?" There is no joke in their voices but the smile on their faces show their joy at the fact that they are no longer in that situation. They feel our pain, as they have been there and survived. I wonder if the lack of sleep we experience is unlike anything the parents of singletons could imagine. From the same parents with the solemn looks, we hear that it will all get better...when the girls start going to school.

Along with the sleep deprivation twin parents suffer through, there is a sense of pure accomplishment and pride when you put your children down in the crib, walk out the door, and hear complete silence on the monitor. On a comparable level of deepness of emotion, there is an overwhelming frustration at volleying back and forth of getting one child to sleep while the other begins to stir, and then repeating the cycle throughout the whole night.

So, the grandparents left on Saturday morning. I am thankful for the amount of sleep they gifted us while they were here, but now, the transition to this sleepless haze I am currently attempting to function with is quite difficult. Multiple times Ches and I have jested with them about their permanent move to be our live-in nannies, but the humor seems to slip to irrational possibility, maybe even desperation, as the night hours go on.

We made the mistake on Saturday of making two different outings with the girls in their car seats. The outings were everything you could hope for from infants: they slept soundly while at the restaurant for breakfast and on the stroll through the aisles of Costco and when they did begin to stir, a simple rocking of the seat or pushing of the stroller kept the crying at bay. We thought everything was going to be okay since they were wide awake for the cycle right before bedtime, but expectations mean naught to a baby girl.

Last night went a lot better. The twins actually went down in their crib for at least 2 hours without grunts, albeit the two hours were at different points throughout the night. I took the first shift (10 PM to 12 AM), fed them together (12 AM to 1 AM), we shared the second (1 AM to 3:45 AM), fed the girls & pumped (3:45 AM to 5 AM) and Ches took the last one (5 AM to 7:30 AM).

We shall see what tonight holds! But I must away as it is time for a feeding and then hopefully a shower and a nap (doubtful, as getting both of those in a single day is a luxury)...