Friday, September 28, 2007

Sleepless Nights

I have problems falling asleep if I wake up in the middle of the night and move around too much. If I get up to go to the bathroom, I'm okay, but if I move much more than that, I'm dead meat. I can feel my heart moving faster and I just lay in bed and get angry because I'm not sleeping.

Fortunately, I have a wonderful husband who understands this and loves me. He is also a complete zombie in the middle of the night if he has to get up. He moves, but he's not fully there. AND he is able to fall asleep within 30 seconds - anytime, anywhere (he fell asleep at a red light once while we were all in the car).

Since he is all of the above, he gets up with the girls if they ever wake up in the night (after they're done nursing). We started this arrangement when Woof was a puppy... he would need to go potty in the middle of the night, which required walking downstairs and letting him out, waiting to let him back in and walking back up the stairs. Needless to say all of the stair climbing would get my heart going too fast and I would be done for the rest of the night. That is when Cornbread stepped in and took over middle of the night duties.

If one of the girls is sick (like puking sick) over night, though, it requires two parents - one to clean the child, the other to change the sheets. Sunday night Georgia was the puker - but she was up every 20 - 30 minutes so I wouldn't have had a chance to fall asleep anyway. Last night, Nora was the puker - and she was only sick once, but it definitely required a sheet change. 2:45am - I'm changing sheets. 4:45am I'm still awake and really ticked off.

I thought about blogging about it last night, but the post would have been less than appropriate... maybe a little something like this:

Have you ever noticed that the worst words in our language are the ones that feel the best to say? Why are curse words the words that FEEL good coming off of our lips - like just saying one relieves some amount of tension? You know the softness of the Shhhh and the harsh ending of T! The same with the ease of Fffffff and the abrupt end of CK! And then if you add a "in' A" on the end of that one somehow it feels even better than before. And what about the way the aaaaaa and the sssssss sound when you're being sarcastic and call someone one of those - it just feels good.

I used to have a bad potty mouth, but after a couple of people pointed it out to me, I cleaned it up (pre-kids). Cornbread and I have our moments when these words fly out of our mouths (one of Cornbread's was last night when he saw the sheets... hence the thoughts in my mind).

Anyway, I don't know how to make the sleeping issue any better. One time my dad told me to count - and I would never get to 1000. But then I started counting and I got to about 500 and I got really ticked because I knew I was going to make it to 1000. So what to do? I'm just happy that Cornbread doesn't mind the elbow in the middle of the night.

QOTD: What do you do to fall asleep when you're having trouble?

7 comments:

Mommy Brain 3:18 PM  

Question #1 ...are you still working out? I sleep so much better then.

Question #2 What are you stressing about?

Sometimes journaling empties my brain...sometimes. Then there is always Benedryl-love that one! And then sometimes I just live through it...

I hate not sleeping...hate it.

You are totally right about the bad words feeling good! = )

Here's hoping you sleep tonight.

Amy 3:55 PM  

I used to have really bad insomnia as a kid. Not so bad anymore, but still have the same problem you have at times. I have to discipline myself to shut off my brain so I don't start thinking about all the things that are going to keep me awake. If I really can't fall asleep I have to change locations--don't know why this helps but it does. That means sleeping on the uncomfortable couch for a few hours, the air bed, or the recliner. Another good incentive to have a guest room.

Both my parents struggle with different sleep problems. You could ask them next time you see them. :) Ambien or Benadryl work when you really need to sleep--but I wouldn't take it regulary and unless you can sleep at least 7-8 hours.

Jen 9:40 PM  

I am a huge insomniac too. I used to go through the alphabet and think of a boy name and a girl name I liked for each letter. I started doing that when I was preggers with Amelia and just kept doing it. Usually works after a while. Another trick I heard was naming the attributes of God, starting with A. All-powerful, benevolent, caring, ect. . .

2 benedryl + 3 tyelnol = sleepyland

Anonymous 3:09 AM  

I'm laughing right now! Jana what timing for this post.

Last night I woke up at 1:45am and could NOT get back to sleep until 3am. I slept in a tiny but this morning (7:30am)and feel rather refreshed. Wouldn't you know though come 10pm I wasn't tired ... it's now ... 1:03am! I called my mom at 10pm and we went to Walmart..for 2 hours! I'm still not tired and I'm going to hurt tomorrow morning. When I can't sleep I just start praying for people. I think it's satan that wants to keep me up,knowing how crabby I am w/out sleep,so when I start praying it doesn't take long for the zzzzz's. I think I'll go find some of those zzz's now ;)

Kristy~

Anonymous 3:44 PM  

Um, Jen...I think you're mistaken...2 benedryl + 3 tyelnol = permanent sleepyland (aka DEATH). ;)
Jana, I have noticed the same thing with myself as I've gotten older. I'm good to go back to sleep if I just get up for the time it takes to use the bathroom or take a wandering child back to bed, but any longer and I'm toast too. If a light is turned on in that process, forget about sleep. My dad has the same problem and he usually ends up on the couch with the tv on at 4am...totally not what he needs - rapidly changing images and flashing lights are NOT conducive to restful sleep, but he says it works for him.

Jen 11:08 AM  

This is totally a joke Jana, but working 3rd shift totally cures difficulty sleeping. You are constantly living in a state of sleep shortage that you can sleep pretty well anytime! No, seriously, somehow switching venues works for me too (like Amy said). Just moving into a different bed usually works. I am also picking up a prescription for Ambien this week. I'll let you know how it works (sometimes I wake up during my day sleeps...I'm hoping to cure that problem with Ambien)

Lisa @ Heaven Sent 1:35 PM  

I have a really hard time winding down to sleep. Sometimes it literally takes me hours. Praying seems to be the one thing that helps sometimes, but usually I just lay there with my eyes closed until I drift off. Even if it takes 2 hours.

Good luck tonight! Hopefully the girls are feeling better!

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