On Fatigue

When people say having a baby is tiring, this seems pretty easy to understand. You can conceptualize the less sleep, the extra responsibility, etc. But you really can’t fully comprehend what it means to be that tired until you live through it yourself. When our baby was first born, I was so tired that I literally could not hear anymore. I remember once eating dinner (that some kindhearted person had brought us- probably our fifth chicken and rice of that week) while my baby lay in her swing. After ten minutes or so my husband asked if I was going to feed the baby. I looked at him puzzled, and then looked at the baby. I realized that she was screaming. “Sorry,” I said to my husband, “after a while I guess I stopped hearing her.” You have to be “dead-ass tired” as my Zeidie would say to not hear the piercing screams of a hysterical infant. Another time, my husband stopped me as I was on my way into my room. I could see his lips moving, but I just couldn’t make out the words. After he repeated himself a few times in response to my confused look, I decided to give up and just walk away. Exasperated, he did the same. I still have no idea what he was asking me.