Sleep Deprivation

This morning I fell asleep while sipping my morning tea.  I am horribly sleep deprived and will have to sneak in some extra zzzz's throughout the day, whenever possible.

Why am I so tired, you ask?

About 3 weeks ago, we were hoping to wean Little N off of breastmilk, to give myself a break, and to increase his supplement of soy formula.  Why soy formula?  Because cow's milk based formula leaves his bum red and raw.  A bit of soy formula supplement seemed ok... about 2 bottles every 3 days or so.

However, as soon as we started to decrease the breastmilk, and give several bottles of soy formula on a daily basis, he developed the very familiar horrible diaper rash that cow's milk formula gave him.  It took close to two weeks for it to clear up, and that's after using hydrocortisone and maximum strength Desitin on his little bum.  My breastmilk output, in the meantime, decreased from approximately 30 ounces a day, to 25 ounces a day, pumping every 5 hours or so.  To bring it back up, I'm now pumping every 3 hours, as often as possible.  In the night time, I pump every 3 to 4 hours.

This means I am awake at least twice in the night/early morn.  It doesn't help that I can never sleep in, unless Hubby is home, which is only Saturday and Sundays, ONLY if we have nothing planned for weekend mornings.  It just happened that last weekend, I could only sleep in on Sunday, and that meant only 1 to 2 hours extra sleep on the weekend.

I am sleep deprived.  All I think about now, is sleep, and breastmilk production.  Is it time to pump yet?  Are the kids fed?  Can I take a nap, if the kids nap?  Oh yea laundry.  And dishes.  I hate dishes.  Time to pump again...  Boy, I really need to sleep...

I wish for the weekend, again, even though it just ended, so that I may sleep a little extra.  I am also due one day of being child-free. I might just choose sleep as part of that deal, as well as some time out on my own.

The kids are playing on their own, right now, enjoying each other's company.  I think I have time for a 10 minute rest...  Then I should finish drinking my tea...