Ability to Sleep

My husband has the most amazing ability to sleep. 

I am jealous.  I admit it.  I cannot sleep well, and require many specifications just to toss and turn the way I do.

I need darkeness, quiet, my sound machine (with auto shut-off), covers to be just so, pillows to be just so, no body parts hurting (ha), and preferably, no one in bed with me snoring.

But, enough about me and my lack of sleep, good or otherwise.

My hubby can sleep anywhere.  He sleeps on any couch, and in any chair, in any position.  Lights could be blaring at him, but if he closes his eyes, it's over.  Snoresville.

He sleeps on buses and trains and subways all over NYC.  I don't know how often he has missed stops because he wouldn't want to admit that to me.  However, he has overslept and gone 2 towns and about 5 miles past home on the evening bus and I had to go pick him up!  It actually took him a while to even figure out where he was so I would be able to find him!

Hubby can even sleep standing up in the shower!  Yes, it's true.   Our son, Hammer, rarely slept when he was a baby.  My hubby had to get up and into the shower by 5:30 am and then out the door by 6 am to not be late.

Some nights, my hubby would be up already, no problem.  Other nights, he would have done his shift earlier and be in a deep sleep when the alarm would buzz.

One morning, after sending him into the shower, I woke again at 6 am to still hear the water running.  I ran into the bathroom and pulled back the curtain to find my hubby leaning against the wall, sound asleep.  Thank the Lord the water was not hitting him in the open mouth, I think he would have drowned!

Sleeping that heavy and that well also means that my hubby tends to wake up disoriented at times.  Most often that just requires some yelling and shaking to get him to the point where he can function and help with whatever situation has arisen, such as attending a sick child or cleaning up vomit while I attend the sick child or something similar.

During the baby years, things were more interesting.  I still worked full time after both the boys, so we tried to take turns with waking kids.  One night, after demanding and kicking him out of the bed to get the baby and do bottle duty, he finally bolted from the bed and as I watched, he passed the baby's room and ran into the kitchen.  The next thing I heard was the oven door open and slam and I was yelling what are you doing???  He ran back to me and said "Where's the baby?".  Uh, how about the crib?

Nowadays, the confusion isn't so blatant, but it is still there.  Our daughter will sometimes have a bad dream and come downstairs looking for him.  She likes daddy to lay down with her in our playroom on the daybed.  I will try to get him up and say she is there and wants him and he will say, "Who?"  I will repeat and on more than one occasion been told that he doesn't know anyone by that name.

I usually follow up with a punch in the arm and yelling more sharply and eventually it works!  lol

If I could bottle whatever it is that my hubby has that allows him to sleep like this, I would be a wealthy woman. 

More importantly, I would also be able to sleep better and not be such an insomniac!  Oh well!

Be well,
Dawn