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Lads Night with Rupert

Gareth Ellis

On Friday night Rupert and I had a proper lad’s night.

I got a few bottles in, we stayed up late and Mummy was sent to the other room – it was amazing. I say amazing, it was bloody knackering.

I’ll set the scene for you. I had offered Jess to take ALL of the night feeds so she could enjoy a better night’s sleep – or at least one where she woke up on her own, without being woken by Rupert.

So we went our separate ways at bedtime for the first time since I had to leave hospital without them and we got ready for two different nights.

After going to bed at 10pm he was awake and ready for his first feed at 11.30pm. No problem, I thought, I’ll go and get the expressed milk from the fridge, make sure it’s the right temperature and take it back upstairs to feed him.

The first few points went perfectly, except when I got back upstairs he didn’t want to eat. The little bugger, he’s never, ever refused to eat but sure enough every time I went to put the bottle in his mouth he took a little bit before crying.

‘OK, you’ve had enough’ I thought, I’ll burp you and put you back down. Nope, no thank you Daddy, I’d rather scream at you. So I tried with the bottle again, same outcome. Finally he went back to sleep about 12.15. But I was too flustered to sleep myself, so I finally got to sleep about 1.30am – moments after a fairly successful second feed – although he still refused food again, just not as vocally as before.

The third feed took place around 4.30am and was fairly straightforward. I think both of us had enough by then so he fed nicely and then went back to sleep before Mummy came and got him for the usual 7am feed – Daddy stayed in bed for a couple of hours.

The point of the night was to give Mummy a rest so she could wake up refreshed – it doesn’t matter how it happened – it worked.

However, what it gave me, as if I didn’t have it already, was a massive appreciation for the work that all Mums do throughout a night.

Yes I get up and change him when he needs it but it isn’t the same as feeding him multiple times in the night, and it doesn’t matter how many times he wakes up either, she gently lifts him out, feeds him and then cuddles him to sleep, before putting him back in – no wonder he looks at her the way he does.

Simply put, Mummies are superheroes. Jess usually lets me sleep through the week as I have to go to work so I feel bad that I’m not there for her. This was my payback.

Just don’t make it a Friday AND Saturday night please Mummy.

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