A 'Labor'ious Weekend

I had dreaded this weekend from the moment hubby finalized that I would be the one taking the class. I knew I was right in all my worries and fretting, and I knew he didn't realize the full complications of it.

As Friday approached, I grew restless, worrying about Baby Z's bedtime. He usually sleeps around 7/8 pm, and class starts around 7 pm. I wanted him to sleep at home, and not in his stroller. We pulled it off when he was younger, but with all the difficulties I've been having with his naps and sleeps, I could smell the trouble. But I went on with it. To top it off, even though hubby said he would tell them he wouldn't man the registration table, he did end up having to settle some financial issues for people all weekend.

Baby Z doesn't sleep well at night, which is pretty normal for a human being coming out from my womb. None of my kids ever slept through the night when they were under 1 year old. However, he doesn't nal good either, except for this one period of time which was then disrupted by our trip to Houston for the Texas Dawah Convention. Alas, his naptimes are never the same after that. He would be scratching and then just making his eczema worse, and eventually preventing himself from falling asleep. I have come to savor him falling asleep to the point that I would put everything else on hold just as long as he has a good nap. Suffice it to say, making him sleep and having him sleep for quite some time is no easy feat, though it used to be months ago. We have reached a point where he wouldn't nap because he couldn't or because he was overstimulated, and as a result, he would be cranky at night too, which led me to the world of crankiness myself.

So Friday came. Hubby sat with the kids outside the auditorium, and every break time I would check on Baby Z, to see if he needed nursing. When he did, I would bring him into the auditorium and nurse him in a secluded area. He didn't sleep at his usual bedtime that Friday.

Saturday, he skimped on his morning nap, and didn't nap much in the afternoon. Saturday night, he woke up numerous times, and by Sunday morning, I woke up with a sprained neck, and couln't turn my head to the right without wincing in pain.

I nursed him around 8 am and by 8:50 he had fallen asleep. So I put him down and called Sg to ask if she would be able to pick me up. She couldn't because she had to go early. So close to 9 am, I woke hubby up and told him that we would take H and leave sleeping Baby Z with the girls so he could drop me off.

It wasn't one of the wisest decisions I have mad in my life, but that was the extent to which his sleep problems have plagued me. The repercussions of this was one that was too close for comfort. Only Allah's aid made it too close for comfort and short of a total disaster. Suffice it to say, the Sunday was the most exhausting day of the weekend for me.

Alhamdulillah the neck sprain abated by the end of the day, but throughout the day, there were so many mishaps that I was really worn down, and one thought that kept running through my mind was,

"I shouldn't have taken the class, maybe I should just ditch it and switch my name to hubby's, I should have known better."

However, I didn't run out of class despite the urge to do so, as the content of the class was, mashaallah, invogorating, beneficial, enlightening, and very substantial in providing one with an Eman Rush, alhamdulillah.

Plus, what kept me going was when the kids asked,

"So any stories?"

I told them about the reward for giving salams to the Prophet Sallallaahu alayhi wasallam, stories of Abu Hurayrah, Imam Bukhari, and that was only from one weekend.

Since AlMaghrib is not yet catered to children under 14, I guess I'll have to be the vessel that carries the ilm relayed by the instructors, and be the deliverer of that ilm to my progeny. What a responsibility.