Sunday, November 05, 2006

To sleep, perchance

Anna's been a little under the weather lately, and at night she's been getting up a lot more. I'm not sure if its the virus or the low dose of pseudoephedrine, but she has disturbed us multiple times the past few nights.

Well, disturbed us, but Anthony is the one who gets up and tends to her needs. He is more alert than me in the middle of a REM cycle, and he can also quickly resume sleeping (or snoring, as the case may be). If I am sufficiently roused in the middle of the night, it may be an hour or two before I fall back asleep. I'm tired, but not sleeping.

The multiple interruptions to our prescribed 8 hours really has an affect. I try to let Anth sleep in to compensate, but both of us are sluggish the next day. (I know it doesn't compare to caring for a newborn though, eh Joey?)

Dogs do not seem to be affected at all in this way. They can sleep at will, apparently. If I get up in the middle of the night, one of my canine companions has often padded out to accompany me. Sure, they don't have jobs to go to the next day, but they are just as happy as not to get up in the middle of the night and to get up early the next morning. Maybe they figure they'll catch a nap later, no worries mate. But, you can wake them from that catch-up nap, too, and they're again happy to go along with you. No post-nap grogginess or grouchiness.

The hormones of motherhood changed my sleep forever. I used to be a deep sleeper, now sleep has a much more fragile hold on me. The flick of lights across my retinas is enough to banish sleep. I can feel it drain out of me, like water from a tub, and I just want to stand over it calling, "Nooooooooo!"

I wish I could sleep like a dog.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

That will always stay with you,Jennifer, once your children come it's like a built in radar..:) I still wake up and wonder why hahaha. I am so enjoying your daily blogs..you should write a book (really) you and your sisters have the knack of making your stories interesting,plus your English is very good. xx

Anonymous said...

I've never been a particularly heavy sleeper, but once I had kids it got ridiculous. I wake up at least once a night, usually more, and it does take time to get back to sleep. Blar! I hate the nights when I wake up and my brain just starts goinggoinggoing and I can't stop thinking long enough to get back to sleep!

ChickenFlicken

Unknown said...

Hey we are suffering over here, too. Al can snore right through all their hacking, seal coughs, but I am up like there is a spaceship radar beam on the top of my head. It is so jolting! I was administering Delsym, but it didn't do ANYTHING. So now we have moved on to diphenhydramine in Pedia Care's Night Time Cough. It isn't quite as harsh as pseudophedrine, IMHO, but still does the drowsy thing. Took them to the dr's today and I very much appreciated her outlook. No scrip for antibiotics was given! Oh, we are also drinking Throat Coat tea, made by Traditional Medicinals.

Anonymous said...

Sleep is sooooo nice! I know I don't have it as bad as you mommies...but I always seem to droop around like I only get 3 hrs a night.....when in reality I get about 7.5.

Sorry to hear Anna has been so sickly. I guess it's just that time of year. I ALMOST made it a whole year healthy,but Last week a nasty,coughie,stuffed up cold came knocking at my door. Unfortunately, my immune system let it in! I'm getting over it with antibiotics...because my sniffles turned into a sinus infection.

XOXOXOXO!