The days are long and the nights are longer

I have recently just finished my week of night shift. I really didn't enjoy it (thats probably putting it nicely). It wasn't the people I was working with, or the babies or the jobs. It was simply because I am really really not a night person. 

At around 9 or 10pm I usually switch off and go into sleep mode. I have never been able to do Uni work at night and I would much prefer hanging and socalising with people during the day. I would just really prefer to be sleeping rather than doing anything else! 

No matter how much sleep I got during the day on night shift I always felt tired and wanted to be in bed. I was actually getting more sleep on night shift than I did when I was on day shift. But sleeping at day just doesn't feel the same as sleeping in the night. 

It was so bad I would get jealous when I saw the kids sleeping. 

Night shift did however teach me many things. No matter how tired or frustrated I was because I wanted to be in bed, I had to be there. There was 2 of us on night shift and we were caring for all 38 babies. Around 20 babies needed to fed every 3-8 hours. And if any of the children where upset we had to be by their side comforting them. On top of all of that we had lots of cleaning to do.

I learnt lots about patience, as I comforted a little boy who woke up screaming “mummy” every 15-20 minutes, because he was having nightmares. I learnt a lot about putting others first, as I had to carry a prem baby literally all night because she would scream if she was put down. I learnt a lot about putting my trust in God alone, as I gave a screaming toddler a lukewarm bath at 3am in the morning in an attempt to break her 42 degree fever because medication wasn't an option. Or when a 3 week old baby had a seizure in my arms, while I was feeding it.

Night shift isnt easy, but it is needed.