Running on Empty

Wow, the life of motherhood is amazing. My boyfriend made a comment to me yesterday that I've been thinking about ever since. He said, "You need to rest more, it's not good for you to be going non-stop. I think you sleep the least of anyone I know." At the moment I didn't think much of it, because it was spurred from him by a moment of pain from me. My teeth aren't that great and they were suddenly hurting so badly I was crying. That evening, I picked up my children from a weekend at their dad's and found that my 3 year old was suddenly sick. Last night consisted of us all trying to get to bed early, just in case I was up all night. Which, of course is what happened. I ended up spending the night on the couch with my daughter coughing and going in and out of sleep. You would think that the time she did sleep would be peaceful, but it was the exact opposite. For some odd reason, she talked in her sleep for hours on end. Not just the mumbly, incoherent whispers kind of talking, but instead it was the constant, loud, discernable type of talking to the point I couldn't sleep myself. Amazingly enough, I was of course still up at 6 am getting my oldest daughter ready for school, and preparing the sick one for the doctor. It's now 11:35 am and still going strong. I feel just fine, not really tired at all, just mentally worn out more than anything I would say. However, I have to recognize the truth in my boyfriend's statement, that I know it's not healthy to be able to run on caffeine and sugar for days on end. I have always assumed it was just part of being Supermom, no time for yourself, gotta make sure everyone else is taken care of first, so I adapted to it. Now, on days when I do have the chance for extra sleep, I find myself doing other tasks I have put off for months instead, and at the end of that day I feel an overwhelming feeling of accomplishment. Once or twice I have tried to sleep in on a weekend, but even without my children there, and no matter how late I stay up, thinking the later I'm up, the later I'll sleep...I still wake up by 9 am and then feel like half my day is gone. Not only that, but it seems to make me more lethargic if I get more than 6 or 7 hours in a night. So is it really unhealthy for me to sleep this way, if I feel worse when I sleep more? Just some food for thought...doctors way? My body's way? Hmmm