Hello extended community! I'm Katie (they/them), a 43 year-old queer non-binary solo parent to a spirited 2 year-old who I adore but who struggles significantly with sleep. I've been doing my best to ride out the choppy waters of sleep deprivation while working full time as the co-director of a mental health program that supports trans/gender diverse folks in the Pioneer Valley, but this winter I've hit a major wall that has resulted in me being sick with back-to-back illnesses since early December. In a particularly low moment during our recent bout with a nasty stomach virus, I realized that I need to put some supports in place that will allow me to have semi-regular access to a full night of uninterrupted rest, and although I've been able to call on friends for occasional overnight support since my kid was born, I'm recognizing the importance of consistent, scheduled reprieve. Luckily, one of my kid's former infant room teachers has expressed interest in this kind of gig, and they did an initial overnight last weekend that went swimmingly and gave me the opportunity to bank up 10 full hours of sleep! I trust this person implicitly, my child loves them, and we are in queer community together so it is important to me to pay them well for their time and labor.

Which is where this fundraiser comes in! I have set the goal for $1,000, which would allow me the freedom to schedule out 4 overnights over the next 3-4 months. Between this and some other mutual aid asks I'll be making of friends local to our area I am hopeful that I will be better positioned to make it through the remainder of the winter season without continuous sickness and potentially with some energy reserves heading into spring that could fuel the addition of other important forms of self-care, such as exercise, acupuncture and (eventually) night weaning/fully weaning.

Thank you in advance for considering supporting me in this quest for sleep! As many of you know, I worked very hard for many years to become a parent, and although so many aspects of this new role have been sweet and fulfilling, the level of exhaustion I'm experiencing is challenging in ways I could never have imagined and is definitely requiring me to find new ways of calling in support, even when that's not entirely comfortable for me to do.