This applies to all women not just moms - the most recent encounter I have had though has been since I became a mom and now the energy to say what I want has apparently evaporated.
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Holy Cow Moment 5: Twas the night before work and all through the house not a creature was stirring not even…oh wait mom was. The night before Christmas lies, mothers never sleep, so someone is always stirring. Husbands and dogs on the other hand apparently do not.
At 2:30 in the morning as the baby’s cries are heard over the monitor, almost in surround sound since the monitor and the baby’s room really aren’t too far apart, the blurry vision of an exhausted mom tries to focus and figure out what the heck is going on. The husband is sleeping, soundly I might add, along with the dogs, but not the mother. I stumble to the bathroom and can feel the anger growing, I grab my robe and stomp – well it sounds more like an enraged rhino (yes I compared myself to a Rhino, at least it wasn’t an elephant). Why isn’t someone else waking to the baby’s distress?
What is really going on in my head is, “if I have to be up everyone one else should suffer too.” I’m getting more and more mad the more everyone sleeps - except of course for my daughter and myself. I stomp some more, mumble under my breath and finally toss the pillow onto the sleeping husband. He is now awake – not coherent but awake. I feel a little better.
Later that day, since this is a weekend, the baby is being a wonderful joy – for awhile. She starts to get fussy while I am grabbing laundry from upstairs; my mom instinct says that she probably needs a diaper. I get downstairs and what do I see? My husband sitting there with the baby on his lap, still fussing. I stomp by (I apparently stomp a lot), I am once again mumbling under my breath also.
The holy cow moment that should come as no surprise is – My husband can’t read my mind. So what I learned is if the baby needs a diaper just tell him, if you want him to change her diaper at 2:30 in the morning just ask him. He never said no he just isn’t wired the same as me. I actually see this as an inconvenience – “God please feel free to make ESP part of evolution to make men more efficient. – Amen.”
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5 days to Thanksgiving!
Wow Michelle I feel like I could have wrote this myself. And you will continue to have nights were your husband jumps out of bed, if you just ask and also nights when you want to smother him with his pillow because he is no help at all.
ReplyDelete-Angela Broadbent