I was *almost* asleep, then got woken up - 7 times

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Argh, what a night. Thank goodness I was tired and went to bed at 8:30, or I’d be a puddle on the floor now.

Got up at 11:30, it felt like it was 90 degrees in the bedroom, so I turned on the A/C, went back to bed. And I was just drifting away . . .

And my husband barged in, turned on the bathroom light, and started brushing his teeth. I was like, “What the hell?!” and it turns out he heard me in the hall futzing with the A/C, and assumed I’d gone upstairs to nurse the baby and therefore thought I wasn’t in the bedroom. So I was pretty awake, and it took me a long time, but I was starting to feel cozy and drowsy, sinking into sleep . . .

And I swear I heard our bedroom door open. I woke up, expecting to see our five year old shuffling in (this happens on occasion, say three or four times a year), but no, it must have been some random house noise, possibly (and ironically) caused by the cooling air. So I tried to relax and go back to sleep - and it happened again! Grrrrr. So finally, I’m falling asleep, starting to dream a bit . . .

And the baby wakes up. So I got up and nursed her and finally went to sleep for real, around 1:00.

Then around 3:30, the five year old actually does come in! She had a nightmare. I go up, get her in bed, sing lullabies, and eventually get back in my own nice cushy bed, get all snuggled up and sleepy . . .

And the five year old returns. OMFG, I tell my husband to deal with her because I’m about to lose it. His approach is to yell at her to get back into bed NOW. Very soothing. But no, he winds up having to get up and take her up there, and get her settled. Of course in the meantime, I’ve started slipping into slumber . . .

Only to wake up when he gets back in our bed. Not entirely unexpected, and at least I didn’t have to schlep upstairs that time. So I turned over, got comfortable, and got just to the cusp of sleep . . .

When the baby woke up again. I was literally crying as I went up to take care of her. It didn’t help at all to know that my husband hurt his back pretty badly yesterday, so there’s no way I can just put him in charge of the kids while I take a nap today. Sometimes parenthood sucks.

Also, I’d bet that tonight as I try to fall asleep, I’m going to feel as tranquil as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs, and will perversely lose sleep because I’m worried someone’s going to wake me up. :mad:

2

Well, look at it this way: if you go without sleep long enough, your brain will shut down and get the sleep you need, no matter what you’re doing.

Just make sure you’re not driving.

(Seriously, that sucks. You have my deepest sympathy.)

3

((Unauthorized Cinnamon))

Hang in there. Tonight’ll be better.

4

Thank you, last night was better. I’m also taking the old ball & chain to the doctor today, so hopefully he’ll be up and about (and helping) soon.

But yeah, I remember reading about an experiment they did, depriving college students of sleep for days on end, and how they just started having REM “sleep” while they were conscious - essentially dreaming while upright. My dad used to work the night shift, and he told me after the first week or so, during which he didn’t really sleep at all, there’s a 24 hour period when people tell him he was walking around, working, doing his normal stuff, only he has no memories of that time at all.

So at least I’m not that bad off. The worst I’ve come to is taking a minute or more to form and utter a sentence.