It took a while to cope with the exhaustion. And even now occasionally I end up going to work on as little as 3 or 4 hrs sleep. Caffeine is my lifeline on those days (my kids are 5 & 4). They always seem to have bad nights when DH is on night shift

I am lucky that I only work 2 days.. On the occasions I am asked to work a f/t week, I am so tired. The house becomes a state of disrepair, and I literally feed kids, make sure dishes are in dishwasher, and we have enough clean clothes and kids are clean, and I sleep.. I have an admiration for f/t working mummas. Whether by choice or necessity, it takes a special person to do it!