Nap Jail

Tuesday July 2, 2019 // Early Afternoon Nap Time

I’m currently in what my friend Lynsey defines as “nap jail”. Trapped under my newborn as he sleeps. Unable to move much besides my fingers and maybe an arm or ankle. Otherwise I run the risk of waking him up.

Mama could use a little break from feeding so the longer he snoozes the better. That means I’m in nap jail for the next couple of hours. 

We’re a little over a week in with him at this point. We’re definitely still getting the hang of everything but one thing we’ve learned for sure is that once you get caught in nap jail, it’s best to just serve your time. Otherwise it’s a diaper change, feeding session, then rock back to sleep.

We’re not perpetually in nap jail. We have a “snuggle me” that we can get him to nap in. The pack ‘n play we have is a good option as well. In order to put him down though we have to move him before he gets into that deep, deep sleep.

Once you get caught in nap jail, it’s best to just serve your time.

I got into my current situation because I’m in his room on the rocker and my wife passed him over to me after feeding. It was less risky for me just to sit down and rock him to sleep than try to walk downstairs while he was on the cusp of dreamland. And now — nap jail.

About an hour ago I dropped my phone. Fortunately it didn’t wake him up. Twenty solid minutes were spent with me attempting to reach it with my stubby toes. It had fallen under the rocker. After some contorting, mentally-spoken swear words, and some luck I was able to hoist it onto the ottoman. Kiddo snoozed through the whole fiasco.

I texted my friend Lynsey about the nap jail ordeal and she said that that was “nap jail in solitary confinement” 😂.

My nap jail sessions so far have been pretty good. It’s been a mix of watching Mr. Robot and now the writing of my third blog post (here’s blog post #1 and I wrote/edited a blog post for my other site yesterday).

My paternity leave is quickly coming to an end as I head back to the office next week. I’m sad I won’t get as many nap jails. I’m sad I won’t be able to spend all day with him. Just sit here and watch him dream. Observe silently while he readjusts his body while he sleeps — switching between laying on his hand or flopping it right over his face. I’m going to miss having access to these moments whenever I want.

Nap jail isn’t really jail at all.

– Josh

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