Sleep Deprivation-The Worst Form of Torture

Motherhood is such an amazing blessing. However there is one pitfall that in my opinion-is the worst form of torture, Sleep Deprivation. Sleep deprivation is literally defined as a condition of not having enough sleep. (All of you moms out there know what I am talking about.) I sometimes daydream about the days when I could stay out all night and sleep till noon the next day. Now I'm lucky if I stay up past 10 at night, and 7 am is considering sleeping in for me! I bet before you entered the world of parenthood, you never realized that those mornings of sleeping in and taking naps would be LONG gone!?
All three of my kids had colic, my 3rd baby had it the worst. I would talk to these other moms at the playground that would brag," Oh I have the best baby, he/she started sleeping through the night at 1 week old...blah...blah..." I would just give them a smile and say," Aw, that's nice..." all the while I am thinking some very ugly words. I am the mom with the kids that-NEVER SLEPT!!!! My husband and I used to sit back and ponder at the fact that our bundles of joy would never sleep. How is that even possible????
My husband was always a stickler about leaving our babies in their cribs and enforcing the "Ferber Method" (think Robert DeNiro in Meet the Fockers).  I, on the other hand, was so damn tired and would just give in and bring the baby in bed with us. Observe the picture below:

Somebody shared this on Facebook and I thought it was too funny not to share. Aiden is "The Stalker" position (last one 2nd row).
What I find so humorous about sleeping patterns, or the lack of, is that your body becomes so acclimated to it. My mom told me after I had my first child that once you become a mother," You NEVER really sleep through the night again!" Your body gets into a "waking every 2 hours" schedule and never resets itself. I also think as a mother, you worry about your child constantly through the night- "Is he breathing okay? Is she hungry? Does he need his diaper changed? etc." A mother's job never stops, and our minds never rest. As my kids have gotten older, my nighttime worries never go away and I still get up about every 2-3 hours and go upstairs to check on them.
The other night Aiden starting crying and threw up in his crib followed by diarrhea. This pattern continued all the next day and the next night. I cannot clean up throw up-that is where I draw the line. So my husband, being the good sport he is, cleaned up all the "yuckies" for me. Both of us were up for two days straight until my little guy was better and could sleep again. After 2 1/2 days of being sick,  Aiden finally slept again and my husband was out like a light. However, I could not sleep. You would think after two days of not sleeping that I would conk out, but no-I was up checking on Aiden to make sure he was okay.
Caffeine has become my best friend since becoming a mother. I drink 2 cups of coffee and Red Bulls during the day. Sleep deprivation is just a fact of life with motherhood. I say all the time," I wish I could just take a weekend, with no kids, and sleep all day." But you know what the funny thing is-I will not do it. All I think about is getting back to my kids because I miss them. No matter how much I sacrifice for those little buggers-they are my world! So I will continue to live off of little sleep and forgive me if I nod off from time to time...