Deep Breaths and Bitter Dirt

The fog lifted as she forced oxygen into her brain and eyes by taking conscious deep breaths. She just realized she'd been careening down Loop 303 at 74 mph for the last twenty minutes on autopilot. The culprit was lack of sleep for the past two nights due to the baby getting stronger and rolling onto his back in his sleep. "You would think this would be a good thing," she thought, "the stronger part."

However, because of his lack of swallowing efficiently (or swallowing at all), once the baby is on his back, it is only a matter of time before he will cough or choke. She could lie there and try to ignore it, put the pillow over her head so that the sound is muffled, or she could flip the light on, jump out of bed, give him a quick deep suction with what they now affectionately call the "Suction-ator 5000", reposition him on his side with a prop, then plop back in bed and hope he sleeps the rest of the night.

Experience has taught her to choose the second scenario. Otherwise, while she might buy time pretending to sleep and ignore it, she will actually lie awake listening and still have to jump out of bed, but to the sound of choking and vomiting instead. This entails clean up on aisle 9 which is usually less fun in the middle of the night than a quick suction - unless the quick suction happens repeatedly hour after hour (like the last two nights). Then she doesn't even bother turning of the light finding it's easier to just pretend to sleep for a few minutes without the eye strain of a light going on and off.

As she merges onto the much busier Interstate 17, she begins to wonder how many other people are speeding along with her in a sleep deprived stupor. Many people probably prop their eyes open with a couple cups of coffee, however, she has never been able to acquire the habit of drinking bitter dirt. (But add sugar, fat, and ice to that dirt and she can drink it all day, but then she would be drinking meals. She does have the occasional "latte" - 2% milk with a couple spoonfuls of instant coffee and sweeteners to try to wake her up, but this usually only happens when her husband is home to make it for her. Yes, she doesn't like coffee that much and/or she is super lazy...