Poetic thoughts at 4:30 a.m.

I have a story to tell - the story of how I, ML, got to sleep on the couch.
This is a true story. Only the names have been changed to protect the not so innocent.

Two years ago, in October 2005, I was eight months pregnant with my youngest son and I had a terrible cough. I would lay in bed at nights so uncomfortable with a sore back and I would cough and cough. I kept my hubby awake and he was quite annoyed with me. So, frustrated, one night I went downstairs to the couch. With a few pillows, I propped myself up on the arm of the couch and fell asleep. My back no longer hurt and I coughed less because I was almost sitting up.

Into November, my cough went away, but still I slept on the couch. It was so comfy and my back didn't hurt. I was sleeping very well for being nine months along. Then, came the baby. Once we made it home from the hospital, I went back to the bed. But the baby would wake up at night and want to be nursed. I would go down stairs to the rocking chair. If I was able to get him back to sleep, I would go back upstairs. The thing about our stairs, though, they are very squeaky. And my bedroom floor, which is right over the living room, is very squeaky too. Well, after the first few nights of going up and down the squeaky stairs multiple times, I decided this wasn't working out. Baby didn't think so either, because he spent more of the nights awake and fussing than he spent sleeping and I spent more nights walking the downstairs with him than I did sleeping.

It just became easier to sleep on the couch again. Baby would wake up and want to eat. I was there next to my rocking chair. When I walked him, I wasn't bothering anyone else who was asleep. When he finally managed to sleep, I would plop down on the couch and get some rest.

Baby got older and became Mr. Fussy. He cried all day, he cried all night. When he did manage to sleep, he slept on my chest while I slept on the couch. It was the only rest for either of us. He got older and older and my attempts to get baby to sleep on his own were futile. He would not sleep unless I was holding him. Fast forward to now. He is now two and he keeps me up most of the nights still. Just before his second birthday, we got him a bed. It is a comfy bed and we lay him in it at night. He sleeps there until 12:45 and then his internal alarm clock goes off and he comes downstairs. See, I still sleep there. After sleeping there for two years, I can't go back to a bed. The moment I lay down in a bed, my nose plugs up and I can't breath and I usually get heartburn. So, I stay on the soft, comfy couch.

My son wakes up at 12:45 and comes down to find me. He lays on the couch in between my legs. He isn't comfortable. He squirms and kicks and squirms some more. He might finally find a sleeping position, but it is terribly uncomfortable to me. He doesn't sleep long before he wakes up and squirms some more. Anyway, this goes on and on all night long. I end up sleeping in the rocking chair most of the night, which isn't too nice and it makes my rear-end ache. By 3 something, I've had it with my son. I can't sleep. He is in my spot and won't leave. I end up on the computer, reading this and that. I read blogs, I read Wikipedia, I read about sewing, cooking, movie stars, I rate movies I've seen on IMDB. I stay up for an hour or more. Finally around 4:15, I decide I had better try and sleep some more. I go sit in the rocking chair (the couch is occupied) and I can't go back to sleep. My mind is racing. It is thinking poetic thoughts that I wish to blog the next morning. It is thinking about what Ms. Movie Star has done recently. It is thinking about anything. I can't get back to sleep. Finally with less than an hour before my alarm goes off, I fall asleep and moments later, it seems, my alarm goes off and I'm up for the day.

I've got to change two things. I've got to get my son off the couch! It is way too crowded with 2 1/2 people on it. Last night I was getting kicked by my son on the outside and my daughter on the inside at the same time. Who can sleep like that? So, my son needs to go back to bed.

The other thing I need to change is what I do when I get on the computer at night. No more reading! I should find some mindless game to play. I love the Sims 2. Problem with that is, it takes 20 mintues to load the game.

Then, I'm tired in the daytime and I fall asleep when I'm trying to do homeschool lessons with my son. He doesn't mind. It is free time for him, but I mind!

I think I need to get a hotel room each night just for me.