So far life is going well with a newborn. We seem to have fallen back into routine fairly well with just the usual glitches here and there. Thankfully Lindy has been a good sleeper so I get good sleep at night and she gets good naps during the daytime. So far at night I put her down in her bassinet once she's asleep for the night. Then once she wakes up, I nurse her in bed with me and fall back asleep with her and keep her in bed with me the rest of the night. Generally with my babies, they gradually start sleeping longer at night and when they're not waking as much, I start waking myself up more fully to feed them and put them back in the bassinet for the rest of the night.
I may end up a bit more tired once I'm getting up to feed the baby at night, but I've found that these times awake can be a blessing if my focus is right. During these awake times I find that it's a great time to spend in prayer for my family or for missionaries who very well might be awake during that time if they're half-way around the world. I will sometimes sing songs quietly and praise the Lord during these times. I find even with my older kids, if they're sick or going through a tough stage, if I can put my focus on using that time productively with the Lord, that it becomes a blessing in my life even if I do get a bit more tired. With my first couple of kids, I would resent that time being awake and think about how tired I would be and it would affect my whole outlook on my day.
When I had my twins, I was awake at night much more than with any of my other kids. I was able to tandem nurse them but I couldn't exactly tandem nurse them in bed and go to sleep like I do right now. So I would get up and go into another room to nurse them. The thing that helped me the most then was to get books on tape or inspirational tapes/CD's to listen to while I nursed my twins. I would be looking forward to that inspiration or the next part of an exciting story and then I didn't mind being awake so much in the middle of the night. It was still tiring, but emotionally I enjoyed that time awake so it was so much easier to handle.
Often by the time I'm getting up more completely at night, it doesn't last too long because my babies are ready to sleep through the night pretty soon and often they just start sleeping through the night on their own. Whatever stage I'm in, it's a blessing. I'm grateful for the good sleep right now but if I am awake more in the future, I know that my awake time will be a blessing as well!
