On Call

I knew when I got into this motherhood thing that is was a 24/7 type of responsibility. I just don't think people realize what that means when the children are little (people without kids, that is). It goes without saying that there are 2 AM feedings until the infant gets to a certain point where she will sleep through the night. The qualifications of a baby sleeping through the night are not nearly the same as what *I* might consider as sleeping through the night. A 6 hour stretch is considered sleeping through the night. I personally would like to get an 8 hour stretch, but I guess my opinion was not considered when the rule was written. What the books don't tell you is this: a nursing mother's body has no knowledge of new schedules. The baby can sleep through the night all it wants, 6 or 8 or 10 hours, but the mother still wakes up at 2 AM and still needs to nurse. So my body is still on call, even if it is not needed. This makes sense, because the missed feeding may be an aberration and I may be called upon the very next night. Let me tell you, if you are NOT called upon for a second night, your body is STILL ready. Not only is it ready, but in your half sleep you prepare to nurse a poor, unsuspecting pillow. This does nothing for relieving the need to nurse and then the husband is without a pillow. This can be tolerated until the crack of early morning when the sleeping baby is collected and nursed whether it wants to be or not. In this manner the baby manages to rule the mother even when it sleeps, happily, for 11 hours. This also causes the mother to be very cranky the following day, even though everyone else is happy and well rested (even without a pillow). No matter how cranky or sleepless you are as a mother, and no matter how annoying the on call demand can be, when you look at the little children that you made and how perfect they are in every way, you can not help but dedicate your every waking and sleeping moment to them. This would be considered brain washing in any other situation, but here it is referred to as 'maternal instinct'.