Desperately seeking sleep!

This past week has been a rough one for both baby & mom. Scarlett has picked up the virus her sisters had for Christmas. She is stuffed up and uncomfortable. Little airways and congestion don't mix so eating has been a big challenge. Who wants to eat when you can't breathe at the same time? What's even worse is sleeping. Because she is so little Scarlett can't clear her throat or as her sister Chloe says "just snort up" her boogers. In fact Chloe at the age of 6 just finally figured out how to blow her nose (this is something I never thought I would have to teach someone to do) so imagine how impossible it is for a 6 week old baby. Suffice it to say that we have been living with one unhappy camper.

The only way Scarlett can seem to get comfortable with the sniffles is to be held up against someones body, namely, MINE! Every night this week she has started screaming around 9 or 10 in the evening. The fussiness along with lots of snorting, snuffling and quasi choking continues until around midnight when the sheer exhaustion overtakes and she passes out. However I've learned not to dare laying her down as this starts the whole process over again. Approximately 3 hours later she is ready for her 3am feeding. Following this the cycle of discomfort repeats itself and she passes out around 7am, just in time for me to have to get her sisters up and ready for school etc. So I have been averaging 3 hours of sleep a night for 5 days now. If you consider sleeping in a sitting position to be restful. (I do not.) Now I don't mean to sound like a whiner but trying to mother 3 young children, keep a house, be a wife, do school work and exercise reqularly is starting to seem a little difficult. I've only been to the gym twice this week. I feel pretty guilty about it but what's a girl to do? Feeding myself is exhausting right now and lately unloading the dishwasher is a physical challenge (did I mention that my husband doesn't do ANY housework?) If I could only sleep just one night for 8 hours straight I would feel like a new woman. Hell I'd settle for 6 hours. I'm pretty sure I haven't had a REM cycle since November and that can't be good for the old gray matter.