In the first few days after their baby is born, new parents are at war for a little precious sleep.
After hours of labor or surgery, nurses and doctors coming and going and excited friends and family making unexpected appearances, it can be difficult to find the time.
But one mom came up with a hilarious solution that may or may not help new moms catch a few extra winks.
Amidst all the exhaustion, it's reasonable for parents to bicker a little bit about who needs to stay up with the baby while in the hospital. But for one veteran mom of three, she decided after going through the hard hours of labor, the least her husband could do was answer to the baby during the night.
But 30-year-old Samantha Miller learned the hard way with her second child, it may not always be so easy to wake her husband, 39-year-old Chad Miller, when she needs his help in the middle of the night.
Samantha explained:
"When I had my son Chase, I lost my voice from being on oxygen for so long. In the middle of the night, I needed help feeding him, but the baby's cries never woke up Chad."
"Without having a voice, I couldn't yell to wake Chad, so I had to throw an empty water bottle. This time, I thought I'd have much better aim with a Nerf gun!"
You read that correctly.
Samantha hilariously included in her hospital bag a Nerf gun for just those occasions when she needed to wake her husband for help.
Samantha later shared her ingenious plan on Facebook, including a photo of the Nerf gun she had included in the bag the Miller family had brought to the hospital.
The post went viral, shared more than 18,000 times, as moms everywhere took delight in Samantha's idea.
Samantha Mravik-Miller / Facebook
Samantha Mravik-Miller / Facebook
Samantha Mravik-Miller / Facebook
Samantha Mravik-Miller / Facebook
It seems many of these moms may have tried something similar in the past, throwing a wide array of items at their significant others.
They all seem to agree the Nerf gun is the better option.
Samantha Mravik-Miller / Facebook
Samantha Mravik-Miller / Facebook
Samantha Mravik-Miller / Facebook
Samantha Mravik-Miller / Facebook
Samantha later shared how she, somewhat unfortunately, forgot she had brought the Nerf gun with her to the hospital, mostly because she didn't need to use it. Chad proved to be quite attentive and didn't need to be awoken with a surprise attack from a kids' toy.
Just the same, when Samantha shared her plan with her husband and the nurses, they all had a good laugh about it.
There are suggestions all over the internet, listing for moms the items they most need to include in their grab-and-go hospital bags, and what they can reasonably leave at home. After seeing this new hack, expectant moms-to-be inevitably will be reevaluating what they need to include for their hospital stay!
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