Excerpt from THRIVE AND SURVIVE, ZERO TO FIVE

I (Mary) was pregnant with Karl, who would be joining two siblings – three-year-old Luke and one-year-old Julia. Wanting to keep my skills fresh as a hospital nurse, I bought into the lie that a young mom can do it all. I figured the way to accomplish this was to work the night shift. After all, babies and toddlers still nap during the day, and I could catch up on sleep then.

But one person can’t do the work of two.

I’ll never forget one morning after working all night when I was nearly cross-eyed with fatigue. After my husband left for work, I came up with a plan to get some desperately needed sleep. I locked my two children and myself in our bedroom, figuring I could rest while they played. After all, there was nothing dangerous in the room.

How wrong I was.

Although I hadn’t planned to sleep, in just a minute I was out cold. It didn’t last long, though, as a loud crash, followed by the wails of Julia, woke me with a start. I found my baby lying on the floor bleeding from a gash on her cheek. Somehow she’d managed to pull over a portable wooden crib, which grazed her face on its way to the floor.

After the crisis had passed, I suffered terrible guilt. Every time I looked at Julia’s face, I was reminded of how foolish I’d been to think I could do it all. I failed at motherhood that day and learned a valuable lesson: no one can work all day and all night too. The day after Julia was injured I quit my nursing job.

Every young mother works hard every day, all day. And if your desire is to find success in mothering, you’ll have to repeatedly check your priorities. What’s at the top of the list for you? What follows that? How is your time being spent? And your limited energy?

SIDEBAR:

PRACTICAL WAYS TO REDUCE STRESS

• Trim your commitments.
• Pencil in some mommy time.
• Resist feeling guilty for alone time.
• Nap with your little ones.
• Ask your husband to help.
• Listen to worship music.
• Go to bed earlier.
• Enjoy a piece of chocolate.