A member of my partner’s family tells me she has slept like a baby. 

That phrase has some misinterpreted origins. What she means is that she slept very well in the hotel where we have all stayed after a family wedding. She means she had a good night’s sleep and was comfortable.

I meanwhile slept like a baby. I was awake intermittently  – for no apparent reason sometimes. I was only able to fall back to sleep when held and shushed. Sometimes I needed to be fed to get back to sleep. A television being on loud would not rouse me one bit – but a page of a book being turned slightly quickly woke me in tears.

I didn’t really sleep like that. I slept curled up on half a bed, waking intermittently when my son woke up for various reasons. The top half of my bed became his bed as the cots at this hotel seemed to involve you lying your baby on the floor surrounded by nets.

Anyway, I smile and nod at her. I know what she meant. She meant she slept like an adult who doesn’t have a baby.