Saturday 27 March 2010

Oh, what a night!

I managed to get my thousand words done for yesterday. Each one was wrung out of me - it was that kind of day. At just before midnight, I got to the end of the chapter and thought, wahey! I can do this.

I plan to get up early in the morning, do another thousand before breakfast and get a good start to the day.

For now, my head aches and I'm still getting over the chest infection, I've had a busy day, so I head off to bed. A good night's sleep is just what I need before I come back and start the next adventure for my star crossed lovers.

The light goes out, head hit the pillow, and...

The phone rings.

Now, when the phone rings in the day, you can ignore it, if you're strong willed enough. If it rings at midnight, you KNOW you can't. Nobody rings at midnight unless it's urgent. So I race downstairs and answer it.

My son in law is having chest pains, an ambulance has been called, can I come and sit with the kids in case he has to go to A and E?

So by 12.30am, I am sitting on their sofa, watching the paramedics decide that he needs to go to have tests to make sure it's not anything serious. They take him, daughter follows in her car, I stay and babysit. All is quiet, I get a duvet out of the cupboard, curl up on the sofa and doze off.

1am. The dog wants to go outside. I get up, let her out. She starts playing out there, pulling at things, making noise the neighbours will love. I call her back in. Several times before she comes. She takes a while to settle, but by 1.20am, I am back on the sofa, snuggled up and ready to sleep...

2am, one grandson cries out. I go upstairs to find him in the bathroom, totally disorientated. I help him, give him a cuddle and put him back to bed. I doubt he even knows I was there. He settles back to sleep. He looks so wonderful there, peaceful, perfect. I stand for a moment in awe of how wonderful.

Then I come back down to sleep.

2.30am, the dog is crying. She wants to go out AGAIN???? She's been ill, she's on medication. Maybe it affects her bladder. I let her out again.

3am, another grandson cries out. I go up to him. I don't know if he's a deep sleeper, or if he picked up on the anxiety vibes in the house, but he's had an accident. He needs a complete change of pjs and bedding. Of course, I don't know where daughter keeps clean clothes, why should I? And in the dark, at 3am, I'm not going to find them.

So I strip him off, clean him up, bring him down and put him on the sofa with me. He cuddles into me and we settle down.

3.30am, the dog wants to go out. Again. I am fast changing my mind about being an animal lover.

Grandson is in a deep sleep. He fidgets. He pushes me. I am forced further and further over, until I am perched on the very edge of the sofa. How can such a small body need so much room?

The next hour is a fight between myself and Small Fidget, as I try to stay on the sofa and he tries to push me off. He is fitful, having bad dreams. Once he murmurs that he wants his Mummy. Then he settles, happy that he has a space to sleep in roughly six times his size, and I have a space roughly one sixth of my size.

4.40am, everything seems to be calming down. Small Fidget has made himself comfortable and I have found a position where I can sleep without worrying about falling off. Dog is asleep, her bladder seemingly empty. Other children are fast asleep upstairs.

If I didn't have Small Fidget in my arms, I'd go get a drink of water. My mouth is dry as chip and there's a horrid taste in there. But as things are, I'll put up with it. Under Small Fidget, my arm is asleep. Shame the rest of me isn't.

5am. Last time I look at my watch. Small Fidget feels me try to take an extra inch of space. He objects. I move back to the edge. I begin to drift...

5.30am, daughter and son in law arrive home. He's had a barrage of tests, he's to take it easy and if anything happens, go straight back. Daughter takes Small Fidget up to sort him out. As he is being carried upstairs, he realises he is naked. "Mummy," he says, "my pyjamas fell off."

I get home at 6am. I fall into bed and woe betide anyone who disturbs me before I've had some sleep.

That writing I had planned for first thing in the morning? Um....

3 comments:

KittyB78 said...

Oh goodness, that was a busy night. I hope you've gotten some sleep by now?

Melusine said...

I got four hours before I woke to the mid morning noises around me. Early night tonight, methinks. :-)

Kitty's Blogspace said...

good luck with that and I know how those nights go. I rarely sleep more than four hours a night anymore.

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