Thankful for Sleep

I love that my girls are falling asleep more easily with the help of Melatonin. I’m so grateful for less drama filled bedtimes.

However I would be very thankful if my body would recognise that the girl sleep patterns are improving. I still pop awake at around midnight, expecting Heidi to come wandering by. I wake at around 3am excepting to see Annie standing beside my bed. Again at 5am I’m awake looking for Heidi once more.

We still have night waking, especially Annie with her worries but not for as long and no longer every night.

After 8 years of regular broken sleep my body has learned to wake up at midnight, 3am and 5am and it is very hard to unlearn that. Especially when my night waking gets rewarded by a child wandering in to visit when they should be asleep.

Like Tuesday night, around midnight, I had woken up and was trying to get back to sleep when Heidi walked in, took my blanket (that I had been sleeping under) and went back to her bedroom with it. I followed her down the corridor and watched as she climbed back into bed, pulled my blanket over hers and snuggled under them all, promptly falling asleep.

I’m thankful that Heidi knows her own sensory needs now,  that she is aware of needing more pressure and that an extra blanket will cater to that need.  Just wish she had taken the blanket off the bottom bunk, not mine.

For now I’m thankful it is easier, with less night waking and for shorter periods of time. Hopefully one day my body will get the message too.

stuffwiththing

Life, the Universe and Autism