At-Home Dad: Sleepless nights
With the coming of baby No. 3, I must admit there have been many sleepless nights lately.
It isn't from worry or fear. It's my poor wife, who can't get comfortable and has to sleep on her back or side when she can sleep at all. Apparently this baby has decided to follow his siblings' lead and be a big baby. When I say big, the ultrasounds are showing that he may come in well over 11 lbs. Yes, 11 POUNDS!
The first two were 10 pounds, 2 ounces and 10 pounds, 9 ounces. So, with this little fellow, we thought he was gonna be similar in size. When we had the last ultrasound about two weeks ago, the doctor informed us he was in the 97th percentile at that point and wasn't really showing signs of slowing down.
This baby has also been more active for my wife. Therefore, her nights have been rough. No sleep, terrible sleep, sleeping on her back and just plain uncomfortableness. This has left me on our couch many nights trying to catch some shut eye. That doesn't work too well. She gets kicked all night by the baby, while I toss and turn on the couch.
I did make the decision to not purchase any clothes for him, our first boy, just yet until we know his size after he is born. I am sure that in the days following delivery I will be at Target and Children's Place purchasing things for him based on his size.
With the first one, we learned after the fact that we should have waited to buy clothes for her. With her, she was on a "normal" growth pattern until the final month and then BOOM! Everything we had in the way of clothes was tight while some didn't fit at all.
This time I am doing it differently in hopes that I can avoid having to make returns. We have a little more than two months to go and have another ultrasound scheduled for the end of this month.
In the meantime, I can only pray that my wife can start to get some much needed sleep and rest and become more comfortable. I will get some sleep at some point. Not anytime soon though.
Here's to cat naps and stolen moments at some point down the road.
Mike Slawter is the father of two girls in Raleigh. He has been on his stay at home daddy adventure now for more than a year. You can follow him on his blog.
