I have realized that I am a lover of sleep. I LOVE sleep. Really, I do. I am someone who likes getting the full 8 hours of sleep. My husband and brother-in-law exist on 4 - 5 hours of sleep. Yuk. No thank you. My brother-in-law has even said that he feels he is wasting his life if he sleeps too much. (Which I think is crazy because I know I feel so much better when I get a good night's sleep versus when I don't.) Some people say they will catch up on their sleep when they are dead. I say, if you are not getting enough sleep, you will die sooner.
I didn't realize how much I loved sleep until I didn't get a good nights sleep. Last night, I was really tired. I started falling asleep while watching TV a little after 9. I headed up to bed (of course, by the time I go through the whole bedtime routine, over an hour has passed.). I laid my head on my pillow. I was luxuriating in how good it felt to be laying in my bed. I got to enjoy that feeling for a whole 60 seconds. And then I heard 'the cough'. The deep cough of my youngest daughter, who has a cough-variant asthma. The deep cough that means she is not going to sleep well (typically for several nights), and hence, I am also not going to sleep well. It also means running into her room with the bucket while she throws up from said deep cough.
------ A tip for new parents: have buckets around the bedroom areas of your house. For some reason, night time is a popular time for stomach flu's and bad coughs to kick up unexpectedly, requiring the immediate need for a bucket. ------
As I was laying there at midnight - awake - next to my coughing daughter, who I had propped up on pillows in an effort to alleviate her sleep-stealing cough, I was lamenting my missed night of sleep. Hubby - by the way - was able to sleep through this deep nasty cough - even though our daughter was pretty much coughing right at him. (Lucky are the deep sleepers!) :)
There have been two other times in my life when I realized my love of sleep: being in the last trimester of my pregnancies and during the first 6 months after the delivery of said bundles of joys. During those wonderful last months of my pregnancies (and yes, this is said with extreme sarcasm), I remember laying in my bed at night absolutely adoring it (my bed). I am not kidding you, my body was all aches and exhaustion and my bed felt absolutely heavenly!! It was as if my body was melting into my bed. The first couple of months after having twins, I remember feeling like I was going to lose my mind from being so tired. I had a love/hate relationship with going to bed. I would go to bed at night, completely exhausted and sleep deprived and wanting a long, good night's sleep but feeling like I was going to go crazy because I didn't know if I was laying down for an undisturbed 5 minutes or 2 hours, until one of the twins woke up. No wonder sleep deprivation is a top torture technique (as if I have any clue what torture techniques are popular, (thankfully!!) other than watching TV, that is). Simply stated, sleep deprivation sucks!
Those who have experienced insomnia couldn't agree more with this subject. I have a couple of friends who are experiencing insomnia right now and they also have a love/hate relationship with going to bed at night. They are exhausted and want a good night's sleep but also dread going to bed just to lay there for hours not being able to sleep. I have only experienced insomnia a handful of times in the past couple of years, thankfully. I remember thinking I was going to go crazy laying there and wanting to sleep but not being able to; freaking out the longer I couldn't sleep, knowing how tired I would be in the morning.
Here's to everyone getting good, restful, restorative sleep. Sweet Dreams!
Sleepily Yours,
Me
Motivational Moment:
Ironically, even though new parents don't get much sleep, newborns sleep most of the day and there is nothing more peaceful to look at then a sleeping baby!
(Baby pics from http://www.magickalgraphics.com/ )
And of course cats! They are fellow sleep-lovers and have perfected napping!
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