Can we take a moment to talk about the GNAP? Yes, I'm talking about the greatest nap of all time! (The 'g' is silent.) The nap that makes bedtime shiver in its little pants. The nap above all naps. The pinnacle of slumber. The alpha in refreshing REM cycles. The post birth nap.
Sleep is something we all love, desperately need, and usually take for granted until it's no longer happening for us. And let me tell you, pregnancy is the enemy of sleep. First, you're not sleeping because you're sick. Then you can't sleep because your brain won't let you. Then you can't sleep because there's an actual human paying with your ribs. I have reached the point of no sleep simply because I'm so close to birth. The baby is so big that it's just impossible to get comfortable. So there I lay every night, hoarding every pillow in sight trying to convince my body that it's actually comfortable. (It doesn't work)
I was laying awake last night sometime around 1am, little toes tickling my side and some lost organ invading my rib cage, thinking about having an empty abdomen. I thought about holding my sweet newborn, laying her down snuggled in a bassinet, and taking the GNAP. The first real sleep in ten months.
Let me explain why this nap is the nap of all nappiness. After a baby is born they're very tired. (Like 'wake them up to eat' tired.) The birth is not only completely exhausting for the mother, father, nurses, and anyone else that's near but it just tuckers the little baby out. Babies take the longest nap of their lives right after they're born.
This brings us to mom. You just had a baby...I mean there really isn't a need to continue but lets paint a happy little picture. Depending on how that birth went, you haven't even attempted to sleep in like a day. You just exerted so much energy and endured so much pain that science doesn't even know how the body survives it. You are tirrrrrred. Obviously everything hurts so the angel nurses give you some medicine to soothe the pain and help your body to rest, which also makes you sleepy. And do I even have to mention that your abdomen has been vacated? I mean, dreams come true; no more tickle toes.
Once all the visitors leave and the adrenaline has worn off, it's nap time. (Or GNAP time)
Have you ever slept so hard that you don't dream? The sleep is just so good that you wake up wondering what year it is, where you are or even who you are. The GNAP is better. It's like you were a slimy caterpillar and through the cocoon of the GNAP, you emerge a beautiful butterfly. There is no 'eyes closed, waiting period'. There is no hoping your brain turns off. There is just instant slumber. I'm fairly certain that you're actually asleep before your eyes close.
This is the nap I look forward to. The nap that will return me to the living. And the nap when I will finally wake to snuggle a squishy new person. The nap above all others. The nap Greek gods dream of. The nap that teenagers wish they could experience. The eighth wonder of the world. The GNAP.
Preparing my pillow,
Mom-uh-riah
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