I watched Dr. Oz yesterday and I think I am truly scared!  Women who do not get at least 5 hours of sleep a night are twice as likely to have a heart attack as those who do?

Well chalk me into the heart attack corner.

My Lack of Sleep Might Kill Me

And that is just plain scary.  But it is a reality.  I can not remember the last time I slept 5 hours uninterrupted for more than maybe one – rare – night in a row.

As you know, night before last, I only got about 1.5 hours and it was interrupted, for sure.  Last night, I did get almost 10 and was only woken up once.

Tonight, I could not get Katie to go to bed until after 10 pm.  I read the longest books we own, coddled her until I thought she dozed, and she now owes me her first born.  Nothing worked.  She ended up falling asleep on the couch with her Dad and they are now fast asleep in my room.

Sarah, who is still in protest of no milk at night, took two hours to go to bed.  I never gave in to her, until the bitter end.  And then it was a teeny, tiny milk – not even a quarter of a cup, to get her down.  I expect her up any minute now asking for more.

Megan went down without incident.  But will, like clockwork, be up at 12 am, 3 am, and 6am wanting some back pats.

And I have things to do.

There are 5 loads of laundry to be folded on the couch.  I have “work” to do on my pooter, and the dishes are piled high.  My floor needs a mopping, my dogs need a petting, and I need a moment to myself.  And honestly, after all of the sleep I got last night, I am not really tired at all.  So to lay down now would just drive me crazy.

But, true to form, when I do feel tired and want to go to sleep, I’ll have to move Katie – which will wake her up and cause a 30 minutes snuggle to get her back down, Megan will hit one of her times to wake, and/ or Sarah will call out for her milk.

And then I will be up too late, not get enough sleep, and in the heart attack corner once again.

I don’t want to have a heart attack!  I don’t want to be home alone with my girls and they see me go down, scared and at a loss of what to do!  They are too young for that!  And I don’t want to be in the hospital, wondering if I will have another one… and then worry constantly that the next one could take me.

And I, obviously, don’t want to die.

But now I am scared.  Which will keep me up tonight.  Wondering what would happen if I did have a heart attack.  And how I would handle it.  And which of my 3 daughters would be able to help more.  And all of that morbid stuff.

And tomorrow I need to get more life insurance.

Thanks Dr. Oz, for telling me that my lack of sleep might kill me.

I appreciate it.

**Originally published 01/28/2011. But I still don’t sleep :)**

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