Like so many nights before, a child’s cry pierces the darkness, and drags me from my bed. I go to our daughter, and pull her up to me, as her arms wind around my neck, and together we make our way up the hallway. We sit on the lounge, and just like before, she curls around my body, cheek to chest, listening as my heart beat soothes her back to sleep. Sucking her thumb, instead of nursing as she once did, but the comfort of her mama’s closeness is enough to soothe her. Her breathing slows, sleep creeps in, and she fights, murmuring to me, and then, as she always did when she nursed, and contentment overtook her, her tiny hand reaches up, lays against my cheek, and starts stroking, as sleep wins the battle.

{well, if you’d been up all night chatting to mama, you’d need a post-breakfast nap too!}