The one piece of advice that I received the most after the birth of Baby Elise was,"Sleep while the baby sleeps!" Easier said than done. While I am sure that most people when exhausted can fall asleep at the drop of a hat, I am the type of person who when I'm awake, I'm awake even if I'm running on empty. It doesn't matter how tired I am, I can not fall back asleep unless I over indulge in Jagermeister, which would not be a pretty sight. I felt like there was so much to do and not enough time to do it. It also doesn't help that the baby can't really communicate with you. The hungry cry, the "Change my diaper, I'm soaked," and the "I'm just crabby" cries all sound the same at first.
After about a week or so, I could hear a difference between the cries, which helped a lot. The added bonus was she started sleeping for 4 hour stretches, which meant I could actually get some laundry done, or even, once I was feeling better, mow the lawn. The c-section took a lot out of me physically, much more than I even expected. The prescription painkiller that was prescribed made me have crazy nightmares and my skin felt like it was being peeled off layer by layer, so I decided just to use ibuprofen to aid in the healing process.
If you are the type of person who can fall asleep at the drop of a hat, then I say,"Go to it!" Just don't suffer any guilt for not being able to do it all. Your house is going to be messy, you might not get the laundry done, and you might be eating a lot of carry out. Just take time to enjoying being with your little one, even if it is when you're both napping at the same time.
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