Sleep...a thought of thankfulness

It's not that I don't think about the things I am thankful for during the years, but I do love expressing my specific areas where I am thankful during the month of November. Today, it is easy...I am thankful for sleep.

Anyone who has a medically fragile child knows that sleep is a commodity that is in rare supply. Now, frankly, any parent knows that sleep can be in rare supply, but when you have a medically fragile child it seems that the most frightening things happen at night, when you are groggy and it is important that you are able to make life and death decisions. 

We have never had nursing during the night, which makes many of our friends shake their head in disbelief. It started with my desire to work and the limited nursing hours we had needed to be used during the day so I could stay employed. It was a bit of a circle...keep the job to keep the nursing to keep the job. Comical beginning to say the least.

Now, after all these years, we still don't have night nursing...it becomes a bit more difficult as Javad gets older...not because he is sicker or more challenging...it's because we are getting older. David drives a lot for work and I am at the high school, which for some reason seems more tiring. We are thirteen years older and need our sleep as well. We split the night, as we always have, and do our best. I am starting to recognize that this might need to change...we might need help.

This recent car accident has really highlighted the issue around sleep. I need more sleep due to the head injury I sustained. Each day I am coming home from work and taking a nap. This nap lasts between 1.5 to 3 hours. It has become crucial to my basic functioning. I can't believe that in the past a nap was a luxury and now it has become a necessity. 

Today, I had a doctor appointment after school and, I admit, I made a quick trip to Target. When I got home, I only had a half hour for my nap. I was tired and dragging. I thought I was doing better but was hitting the wall. With a phone call and some rearranging, I was able to take my much necessary nap while still taking car of my obligations...life has a way of throwing you a curve ball and letting you know when it's time to take your life and health seriously. Today I am thankful for sleep...it has become the thing that is helping me heal, ever so slowly, but yet moving me in the right direction.

For more about MTM-CNM, go to our website at www.mtm-cnm.org. Consider writing your own story of thankfulness and how our family or how another mtm-cnm family has impacted your life in a positive way. Tag us using #mtmcnmthankfulnessinitiative