Do not become a parent until you're willing to give up sleep...

This is the 3rd time since Jennie was born that she slept through the whole night (9:30pm-6:30am), and let me tell you, we don't take those nights for granted! Jake and I take turns waking up with her in the night, so one of us is always tired. It doesn't matter that you do it all the time- waking up at 1 or 2am everyday still sucks even after three months. And I keep hearing so many parents say that their 2 year still wakes up every night, or "my child gets into bed with us every morning at 4", and then there are those lucky parents whose kids sleep 12 hours a night without a peep (and I can't even begin to explain how jealous I am of those parents).
One of my friends just posted the other day on Facebook about how she wishes her son slept through the night, and the next day faced a firestorm of people who think she should just be happy her son is healthy, alive, etc. She never said anything about wishing her son was sick, or worse...she was a mom who was exhausted and stressed out, and what mom isn't? When you haven't slept right in days, weeks, or even months, it doesn't matter how much you love your child- all you want them to do is sleep!
As this blog post's title says, if you are ready to make a conscious decision to have a child, do not do it until you are willing to go without sleep for days on end. If you get pregnant on accident (like me), then you don't have a choice...you just gotta roll with it.