After musing on it for a while, even posting about it on another forum, I've figured out why the kids are kicking my arse with their nighttime wakings.

With the past babies, there were just fewer children to compound the problem. Phoebe was a tough sleeper as a baby, but she was my only one. I could nap, I could sleep between HER wakings without another one waking up.

Piper was a good sleeper, but even when she woke, Phoebe was such a solid sleeper that she didn't wake anyway.

Now, with Chloe, Piper is having some nightwakings, and even Phoebe is having a couple of tougher nights. Chloe went from sleeping through the night to getting sick, and that has caused for some bad nights in the last week and a half.

Prior to Chloe's birth, I also considered myself "tough enough" on lack of sleep, considering I worked night shifts, and functioned on very little sleep as needed.

So why was this so hard???

Now I get it. With the night shifts, I knew that I was going to be up, and I could mentally prepare myself accordingly. I also could turn around the next night and sleep 10 hours straight to recover. And I did recover. With these nights, I don't know how long I get between wakings... and I'm awakened mid-cycle, and the kids are tag-teaming me. So I might catch 15 minutes here, 30 minutes there. I had one glorious night where I got 4 hours straight. One. Other than that the longest stretch I've had has been two hours.

I'm not complaining, strangely. My husband might think I am, because I usually tell him just how little sleep I got, but it's more so he understands why I am the way I am that morning - and maybe for just a little sympathy.