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Whiny Wednesday: Sleep Deprivation

November 17, 2010

Not having kids, I thought I’d dodged the whole sleep deprivation thing. I love my sleep, so I dreaded the thought of being woken up several times during the night to tend to someone else’s needs, and then sleeping in a half-dozing state, with one ear open to make sure that the other person was still breathing.

But then I got married. And my husband has decided to become an insomniac–a vocal insomniac. So after an hour or so of his tossing and turning, I am finally going to sleep, only to be woken up at 3 a.m. and told that he can’t sleep (as if it wasn’t evident to me) and that his heart is racing. He then reads to try to fall back to sleep; I snap on a sleep mask, stick my head under the covers, and try to stop worrying that if I go to sleep he will have a heart attack and I won’t know until it’s too late.

So this morning I am tired and consequently whiny. Luckily for me, it’s Whiny Wednesday and I can complain about it to you. Feel free to gripe right back at me.

Filed Under: Family and Friends, Lucky Dip, The Childfree Life: Issues and Attitudes, Whiny Wednesdays Tagged With: childless, husband, insomnia, sleep deprivation

Comments

  1. The Barreness says

    November 17, 2010 at 9:46 am

    I have to run a meeting today with a group of women that can not stay on the subject and will therefore make an easy meeting last far far far too long. Being the youngest in the room means they simply see me as a child and so I am often dismissed when trying to herd them in.

  2. Mali says

    November 17, 2010 at 3:04 pm

    I had to leave home before 7 am and attend a business breakfast, and tonight I have a business dinner out, and I hate business dinners with people I’ve never met. And I need a nap in between!

    (I suffer from insomnia occasionally myself – but I’m thoughtful and get up so as not to disturb my husband).

  3. Aja Gold says

    November 17, 2010 at 6:06 pm

    I couldn’t help myself. Went onto Facebook and saw pictures of ex’s baby dressed as a puppy for Halloween. The family pictures were brutal for me to see. I hate FB on whiny Wednesday and all the other days of the week!

    • lmanterfield says

      November 29, 2010 at 9:44 am

      Aja! What were you thinking? Why didn’t you just pull your eyelashes out one by one? It would have been less painful!

  4. Kathryn says

    November 17, 2010 at 7:08 pm

    I have insomnia frequently – have for a long time. Some days are better than others. I think sleeplessness without children as an excuse for it is as bad as getting an ultrasound without a baby in there.

    The technician is bored, she won’t give you any info (like, “Here it is, you have a bouncing baby 3 inch cyst on your right ovary! Would you like to see it from another angle?” – not so much fun), and when you are done she never thinks to direct you to the bathroom! I’ve been terribly cranky (in the past) when having to have an ultrasound without a happy reason for it. I think insomnia is similar.

    • lmanterfield says

      November 29, 2010 at 9:46 am

      Ugh. Yes. I’ve been there, too. No fun. šŸ™

  5. happynenes says

    November 17, 2010 at 8:47 pm

    My husband has woken me up a few times just as I am drifting into that delightful dreaming early sleep prior to a 4am wake-up for work. Once because I was making “Shrek annoying donkey noises” while he was reading. I almost clobbered him with his book.

    Sigh. I bought a BOB style pet stroller for my cat. I was really excited about it. My cat is a total ham and loves to be carried around the house in the laundry basket. But, first turn around the neighborhood, I felt kind of lame pushing my cat around in a stroller. Sigh. Just call me crazy old cat woman.

    • lmanterfield says

      November 29, 2010 at 9:47 am

      LOL! Pictures please. šŸ˜‰

      My neighbor was telling me how she spent Thanksgiving with a freind who talked to her cats constantly as if they were babies. I’m standing there listening to her and thinking, “Yes, and..?”

  6. mina says

    November 20, 2010 at 5:25 am

    well it didn’t happen on wednesday but thursday… can i whine anyway? Same thing i’ve posted about before: I went to a conference, this time on the rights of children, more exactly, the right of children to be heard, to express their opinion freely and so on. As usual it started with at least three welcoming speakers, and some film footage of children being asked questions who they felt was listening to them, who was important to them. The welcome speakers ALL started their speech with “Well as i can see in my own children…”, “..and because i’m myself a mother of two i know that…” , so did the woman who made the movie and who was interviewed afterwards, explaining that the two youngest children in the movie were in fact her own. and so on. I just don’t understand how people who stand there as experts in front of an audience of 100 experts can do that. I felt like “ok, am i allowed to join the discussion at all?” and nearly grabbed my bag to leave…

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