In hope of some sleep

I have not slept since October 2005.
In Oct 05 I was 7 Months Pregnant and could not sleep the whole night. I read maximum books during those sleepless nights. Ro bought me lots of latest bestsellers, got World space connection and painting board, paints, canvas etc to keep me company during the nights.
Carrying Twins, I had become like a giant Panda. I used to walk like a Donald Duck, had feet swollen like a baby elephant and my fair skin had become multi colored (Iron Tablets, Swellings, Stretch marks, varicose veins),
The whole night the babies used to play in my Tummy. I know now who used to kick (Bhavs’s who else), and Gats used to hide in the round corners of my body. She has a habit of hiding in corners, cramped spaces. That how she stuck her head down …with the result Doc asked me to have bed rest with feet up. Phew.Its not as scary…it’s was scarier.
Ro used to go off to sleep and used to feel guilty that he is unable to chat with me every night till morning.
I used to think that when babies will come I would sleep. But I was so unaware of what is in store.
Then came my lil wonders. First few days vanished in my initial recovery, plus so many people around me to take care of my fairies and me.
For the first three months my MIL (Mother In Law) slept with me. One of my Mausi (My Moms Sis) also stayed with us for around a month. So there were 3 adult ladies to tend to their every need for the initial months.
Those days I used to get up 6-8 times in the night to feed them. As they were on my milk, I used to drink 6 glasses of milk to keep the flow going along with some powder that my doc had recommended. (Now I am back to 2-3 glasses per day plus curd).
As I have Twins I used to feed them both together, using the Football Technique that I had learnt in my Lamaze Classes.
People say that Babies sleep a lot…but my springboards never slept more than 1 hour in the day and 5-6 hour of disturbed sleep during the night.
So… MIL said that might be they will sleep after 3 months…
From 4th month onwards Ro took over Mils Place. And since then he has been a part of the sleepless nights too (thanks to kids now he wakes up in the night…as, earlier once he doses off it was impossible to wake him up…. thank you fairies ).

Months passed and Alas., till now… (They are 15 months old)…it’s still the same.
Bhav and Gats sleep in the center of the bed, both of them have to be separated by pillows/quilt (depending upon their position) as they kick each other, climb over each other (they always kicked and climbed on us) and when one wakes up she makes sure to wake up the other one also. In order to put the child, who has woken up, back to sleep, we quickly change places, and I quickly feed the baby and put her to sleep. Then after 15-30 minutes the other one stirs and we quickly change places and I quickly feed the other baby. This continues till morning. These days they wake up around 5-6 times each ….so you can count the total time we spend awake.
The good thing about these sleepless nights is that we are always alert. So if there were a mouse in some far away room we would know. If a dry leaf falls on the ground out side my window I know.

Now, Mil and I think that hopefully when the babies are 2 years old they will sleep properly.

Disclaimer:

Before I close this piece, pls note that post the 3rd month of their birth I have been working full time from 9Am-7 Pm. Ro took Paternity leave for some weeks and post that he too follows the working person routine. And Mil is taking care of the double bubble for the whole day with out any rest/ sleep. She gets some rest when I reach home and take over.