Your life may not be the same anymore once you’ve had a baby, and it’s not just limited to sleepless nights.
Caring for a baby 24/7 can lead to burnout, and it’s ever more so a tiresome challenge for moms if they have to shoulder the burden all by themselves.
Texas mother of two Mattea Goff is kind of in this boat.
Sleep-deprived and physically exhausted, Mattea grabbed a pen and paper to illustrate, for her husband Kris, exactly how she feels.
After all, words can only express so much, and a picture is worth a thousand words.
Mattea sketched out five scenarios to illustrate an average night with her 5-month-old baby daughter, Aurora.
In one scenario, Mattea doodles herself being awakened by her wailing baby after getting a mere two hours of sleep, while Kris and his “useless nipples” sleeps soundly beside her.
Next, she draws herself breastfeeding Aurora, who slaps and scratches with her sharp nails.
In another quirky sketch, Mattea is depicted cleaning up Aurora’s vomit while Kris continues to snore away.
The last stick-figure sketch shows a grumpy mom and a “still completely useless” Kris—freshly awakened from sleep—saying: “Good morning Honey isn’t sleeping in great. Let’s cuddle!”
“I handed it to [my husband] and he laughed, he got it. His reaction was pretty funny,” Mattea told GMA.
Mattea’s humorous sketches have been seen by tens of thousands of social media users around the world since being uploaded to Facebook.
The post has struck a chord among many mothers, receiving more than 165,000 reactions.
Though Kris is without breasts, being a man and all, and doesn’t get involved with night feedings ... he’s nevertheless an amazing dad, Mattea says.
“I am exclusively breastfeeding, that was my choice, but he supports it and he greatly appreciates it,” Mattea said. “It’s not like it’s his fault that he’s sleeping.”
Through her illustrations, Mattea hopes to “encourage more dads to be that supportive pillar” that tired moms need.
“If I had one message I hope to send, it’s that our supportive dads are irreplaceable and a wonderful thing,” Mattea told Scary Mommy.
“Even when we have the most supportive and involved husbands and partners it doesn’t mean that being a mom isn’t difficult, that we don’t get tired and cranky.”
Physical exhaustion and sleep deprivation aside, taking care of a newborn is undeniably a rewarding job! And when a parent sees that innocent baby’s happy smile, it’s all worth it in the end.
