Day 72

Other than her naps in the caravan yesterday, the littlest barbarian went without sleep. She went down fairly easily at bedtime, but her sleep was fitful from the beginning. Near midnight, she awakened. She was stricken by a bloated stomach filled with bubbles of gas.

Though I did not relish yesterday's stench in the caravan, I found myself wishing that the littlest barbarian could pass gas so freely. Neither my partner not I got much sleep last night with her loudly voicing her agony. Having suffered from gas pains myself, I cannot say I blame her. It is easy to empathise in retrospect, it is not as easy as hour stretches into hour in the middle of the night.

She finally returned to sleep and I was able to get some small amount of rest before facing the day. It was not enough, it feels as though it hasn't been enough for months.

The elder barbarians have always been good sleepers. The littlest barbarian has almost reached her first birthing day and she still refuses to sleep through the night and often doesn't nap. It has been more than a year since I have slept more than about four uninterrupted hours at a time.

Today was a difficult day, not because the barbarians were particularly mutinous, but because I slept very little and am running on something close to empty. With luck, tonight will be better.

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