The whole process of having a baby is not an easy one, let me tell you.
Not that I’ve ever had one, but nine months of pregnancy followed by what’s often described as being in the worst pain of your life, followed by approximately a year of sleepless nights does not sound like a walk in the park.
So if we can do anything, anything at all, to make that whole process even a little bit easier, you’d better believe we’re going to. Enter: Samantha Mravik-Miller, who came up with the ultimate ‘mum hack’ when she gave birth in December.
Samantha, from Wisconsin, wanted to make sure her loving husband experienced the miracle of childbirth and the hours afterwards with her (i.e. she wanted to make sure he wasn’t napping on the job), so she came up with the perfect plan to keep him awake.
That being a Nerf gun, which she brought with her to the hospital to teach her husband a lesson or two when he ultimately fell asleep and left her to parenting duties.
The mum-of-three shared a photo of her genius hack towards the end of last year while in the hospital recovering from childbirth, alongside the caption: ‘Mom hack level 1,0000. Worried about the nights in the hospital with your new born & dad sleeping? Well… then don’t forget one of these in your hospital bag.’
Basically, the whole idea was this: if Samantha caught her husband nodding off – even for a second – and slacking on dad duties, she would shoot him with the Nerf gun and wake him up. Voila.
Samantha, who already has an 11-year-old son and a five-year-old son, came up with the idea because she remembered an experience she had after giving birth to her five-year-old. ‘I packed it because when my five-year-old was born, my husband slept through him crying in the hospital,’ she told Romper.
At the time, she tried throwing an empty water bottle at him to get his attention and, y’know, a little help with their new baby, but she ultimately decided that she needed to be better prepared this time. ‘I figured this way I would have better aim,’ she explained.
In the end, the Nerf gun didn’t get used but her husband did find it in her bag and asked her: ‘What the heck, did you bring a Nerf gun?’ Her response: ‘Better sleep with one eye open.’
Incredible. And hey, if you don’t want to get hit with with a huge foam bullet, I’d suggest staying awake to help your partner after she’s just pushed a tiny human out of her.
Just a suggestion.
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A Broadcast Journalism Masters graduate who went on to achieve an NCTJ level 3 Diploma in Journalism, Lucy has done stints at ITV, BBC Inside Out and Key 103. While working as a journalist for UNILAD, Lucy has reported on breaking news stories while also writing features about mental health, cervical screening awareness, and Little Mix (who she is unapologetically obsessed with).