For the past twelve years (twelve years), I have gone to sleep with earplugs in my ears. And not the gentle, "these are just resting near my ear drums while I fire this shotgun" kind of earplugs. I'm talking about the kind you squeeze into tiny squished cylinders before cramming into your ears, the kind that are just milli-somethings below the government standard of "you will die before you ever hear the fire engine" decibel level. Serious, noise-canceling earplugs have been my nocturnal companions through six dormitories, countless sleepovers, and about twenty hotel stays.
Why? Because I am the world's lightest sleeper. Always the last to fall asleep and the first to wake at childhood slumber parties (which saved me from many a pair of frozen undies, I might add). The other night, the faint sound of my own wheezing (I have a slight chest cold) woke me from a deep sleep at 3am.
I have also been known to be the world's longest sleeper. My dad once woke me up after 17.5 hours of sleep, worried, one assumes, that I was dead. (I was grumpy, but very much alive) Doctors have suggested that I need such marathon sleeps in order to accrue the REM equivalent of what many eight-hour deep sleepers take for granted, since my sleep cycles are so easily disrupted. (Have I researched sleep too much? Perhaps...)
The point is, the tiniest noises wake me up. I live alone in a quiet house in a quiet neighborhood. And I still sleep in earplugs. Even with the earplugs, I often wake up when my dog (sleeping in his well cushioned crate away from my bed) rolls over in his sleep. (I wish I were exaggerating. I'm not.)
Last night, I slept without earplugs for the first time in over a dozen years. It wasn't pretty. I woke to the sound of my dog licking his foot. I woke when I turned over and the sheets made a noise. I woke when a squirrel outside my well-insulated windows called a cheerful pre-dawn greeting to its mate. I woke repeatedly, and am now thoroughly exhausted, but I will continue with this cold-turkey approach to 'quitting' earplugs.
Again you ask, why? Well, I'm quitting earplugs because I want to hear all the tiny squeaks and shuffles and miniscule noises that my boys may make. My house's floorplan has the master bedroom on the ground floor, with the children's room and the office up above. I want to wake in the night if I hear a sneaky step upon the stairs. I definitely want to hear if someone tries to open the intentionally squeaky front door. I want to know if my guys are raiding the fridge in the wee hours of the morning (not to punish them, but to work toward reassuring the panicked starvation fear).
Did you know that, during pregnancy, women's ears actually increase their hearing ability in substantial amounts? Our great and merciful God, knowing from before time began that I would not be pregnant on this earth, gave me a freakishly acute sense of hearing and a freakishly light style of sleeping. It has rarely been a gift in my life so far. But I believe He knew I would one day need to hear the slightest noise, the merest indication of my child's distress.
And so I am grateful, though immensely sleepy, as I work toward sleeping through the night without my blissful oblivion. =)
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