Monday, April 19, 2010

Insomnia Sucks

I woke up at 2:30 a.m. with a splitting headache. Usually I take two excedrin and go back to sleep. So I toddled downstairs found the water and excedrin in the dark and swallowed two. I realized I was having difficulty breathing ~ not the rush to the hospital type ~ just the congestion/allergies variety. And I noticed that it was a little cooler downstairs... maybe the heat was different, maybe because I was no longer under covers next to DH - the human furnace.  Okay, don't fight it - just go lay down on the sofa and fall asleep.
So I lay down. Grabbed a throw and covered up. And waited to fall blissfully back to sleep. But my mind would NOT. SHUT. OFF. 

I tried focusing on my breathing. In. Out. Rise. Fall. In. Out. I tried picturing the ocean waves as I breathed. In. Out. In. Out. Question of the day - how long does it take for a dead mouse to start to smell? I mean, we need to know if that mouse was behind the fridge since February or if it is a newcomer to the party. I'll have to google it in the morning. {answer according to google - it probably died within the last few days to a week - oh joy.}  Oh wait, focus on my breathing. In. Out. In. Out. In. Out. Virginia Beach? Outer Banks? I've always wanted to visit that place with the wild horses... Breathing. Concentrate Cheri. In. Out. In. Out. But really, we should be able to have a vacation this year.  Wonder if we could re-create part of our honeymoon trip for our 25th anniversary? Skyline Drive. The Luray Caverns. Would the girls like the Luray Caverns? But Virginia was horridly hot and humid in August.  Oh god, breathing. In. Out. In. Out. I should blog about this. In. Out. In. Out.

And so it went. On and on. At 4:00 a.m. I gave up and went downstairs. Maybe reading my email and google reader will get me sleepy. Okay - early morning comments on blog posts and reading email completed at 4:22 a.m. ~ Let's try again to fall asleep.  Breathing. Calm your mind. Relax your muscles one at a time. In. Out. In. Out. Unclench the jaw. In. Out. In. Out. Birds Chirping. Seriously? At 4:30 in the morning? It is nowhere near dawn yet! Must be nice to have a song in your heart at 4 friggin 30 in the morning.  In. Out. In. Out. Crap, creaking floor boards. DH is up. That means it is like 5:30 already. We really should have done a better job fixing the subfloor when we put hardwood floors in the bedroom. Hate that damn creaking sound. In. Out. Water running. Wow, it is really loud downstairs ~ not sure what the plumber did during the remodel, but you can really hear the bathroom water quite loudly from the pipes that go through the kitchen. Wonder how much it would cost to open the soffit and insulate (ie - soundproof) those pipes?  Breathe Cheri. In. Out. In. Out. Oh what the hell, DH will be coming down any minute to send me upstairs anyway, why bother now?

Sure enough, 6 a.m. DH comes downstairs and I go up. 6:30 a.m. Becca comes in to have me braid her hair for "spirit day" for soccer. Away game today. And once I've braided that super thick head of hair into two herringbone braids, I'm wide awake, so might as well get up and have breakfast. Ugh. I need some sleep.

6 comments:

Sian said...

Great post! So well written, I was right there with you. I hope the headache has cleared and you you get a good nights sleep tonight.

Kelly Miller said...

I hate nights like those with the runaway thoughts. I do have to say OUTER BANKS! That area of my state is gorgeous. Unfortunately the wild horses aren't as romantic and rustic as you'd expect because of how Ocracoke has been developed -- but it's still really cool.

Lee said...

LOVE how you wrote all of that :) But sorry you're not getting sleep. I hate nights like that. Hope you get some shut eye soon!

Amy said...

Yikes! Get some sleep please ... if you can!

So very well written today, I hope the headache goes and you can rest :-)

humel said...

Poor you xx I know how that feels... Hope you catch up soon xx

Cheryl said...

Oh how I hate insomnia. I hope that was the last of it!