When I first made the BIG announcement that I was pregnant with twins, one of the first things people always said to me was “Get as much sleep as you can now before it’s too late!” I’d simply shrug it off and laugh to myself. I’m young! I’m used to going to sleep after midnight and waking up at 6am. I mean, it’s just SLEEP right?

I was also one of those moms that claimed my independence early on.  Saying boldly that there was no way my kids would share the bed with me. They were going to sleep in their own cribs no matter what. I even had two fancy bassinets set up in the room, ready to welcome their warm little bodies.

I couldn’t have been any more wrong!

My two bundles of joy were born a month early so they needed to be woken up every two hours to eat. My daughter had a glorious case of day/night confusion. She would literally sleep all day and was up all night. This was our sleep set up:  Two babies in newborn Boppy pods taking up ¾’s of our King sized bed with mom and dad squished together on the remaining fourth!

Basically, all rules and promises I had made to myself in the beginning went out the window. It was pure survival mode.

It was from these first several months I truly learned the value of a good night’s rest. Sleep would come in shifts, as my husband Brandon and I would take turns resting for a couple hours at a time while the other was on baby duty. I felt like a walking zombie most of the time, and there were even moments where my vision seriously became spotty. I remember thinking it was another migraine headache coming on, but actually it was just simple lack of sleep.  My speech was also declining! Simple phrases like “It’s YOUR turn to change that diaper” would become jumbled, and we would end up laughing at how ridiculous we sounded!  We quickly learned that sleep is just as vital as food and water.

As the months passed by, I can’t even count the number of times we said this will be the month the kids move out of our bed and into their cribs. But of course it didn’t happen! We discovered that our kids are secretly ninjas in disguise! They do not sleep in one position. Their little arms and legs jab you all night long as they turn cartwheels while sleeping. Despite all the bed time Kung Fu, sleep definitely has improved. At 19 months, both kids finally sleep through the night, giving mom and dad much better rest. No more burning eyes, slurred speech…and I was finally able to return to work!

I now wholeheartedly understand the seriousness and severity of all prior warnings about sleep! I bet you can guess my first piece of advice when a friend or family member makes a big announcement that they are expecting!

Jenna Kagawa is a Bedding Specialist at SlumberWorld in Kailua Kona. She is the happy mother of twins, Hali’a and Makoa. When not busy finding clients the perfect mattress or chasing her little ones – Jenna enjoys making jewelry, reading, shell collecting, and eating really good food! She is a total social media addict and loves photographing life.