There’s no denying that being a new parent is hard work.

There’s the consistent crying (both you and the baby). The explosive diarrhea. The potential health conditions – should his face be so red? How many nappy changes is too many? It’s no surprise that moms and dads looking after a newborn are so exhausted.

Of course, there’s a lot of love to be had in those first few days, but that’s not the only emotion on the cards. It’s normal for a lengthy, tough birth to leave a new mom feeling overwhelmed and wiped out.

But despite this, moms don’t often ask for help when they should. It takes some gentle prompting from hospital nurses to remind them to sleep and take care of themselves. Without a bit of self-love, they wouldn’t be able to take look after their babies.

Mom Samantha Mravik-Miller has her own story to share about life with her newborn baby. Following her birth, she was stuck in her hospital bed when her baby boy began to cry. Not just sniffles, either – the earth-shattering sort.

Astoundingly, her husband managed the impossible: he slept through the whole thing.

This left Samantha in a bit of a panic. She’d lost her voice due to being on oxygen, and was too weak to get out of bed to deal with her baby herself. She wanted to press the call button to summon a nurse, but she was too far away. She resorted to creative methods of trying to wake her husband up, saying:

“I remember having to throw an empty water bottle at him to try and wake him up to help me get our crying baby.”

Fast-forward six years and Samantha was back in the hospital, ready to give birth to her second child. This time, she had the experience behind her to prepare. She was scheduled for a cesarean section, and knew that she would rely on her husband more than ever this time around.

She dubbed her method of prep: “mom hack level 1,000.”

Samantha wrote: “Are you worried about the nights in the hospital with your newborn and dad sleeping? Well… then don’t forget one of these in your hospital bag.”

Speaking to Love What Matters, she said that before she left for hospital on the morning of her C-section, she was hit with an ingenious idea. She came across her son’s toy Nerf gun… and realised it was just the thing she needed for communication.

“I thought to myself, ‘I’ll have better aim with this than a water bottle!’ Being a boy mom, Nerf guns are everywhere around here! The darts are the boys’ equivalent to glitter,” Samantha said.

With the overwhelming jitters before Samantha was wheeled off to the operating room for her C-section, she had completely forgot about the Nerf gun. When she asked her husband to pass her something from her bag, he had a small surprise when he caught sight of it.

Samantha recalled: “He said, ‘Ummm why is there a Nerf gun in here?’ I said, ‘All the better to wake you with!’ He asked me why I had it and I told him it would be easier to wake him with that than a water bottle because ‘I’d have better aim.’ We left it out for the rest of the weekend and the nurses all thought it was hilarious, especially the ones who had witnessed his snoring.”

This ended up working a treat. Whenever Samatha called on her hubby for help, he woke up straight away. There was no need for the Nerf gun after all – or maybe the thought of being pelted with Nerf darts in the hospital room was enough to shock him into action!

Speaking of her post, Samantha said: “I think other moms will be packing one also. Life is never predictable, and we are never in control. Choose a partner who is not only supportive but also shares your sense of humor when life gets rough.

Luckily, Samantha’s husband could see the funny side of her idea – and we can too!

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