I should have known it couldn’t last. Frankly, I didn’t even really believe it would work. After all, I wasn’t actually taking it to help me sleep…though Heaven knows, I could use it! No, this little blue (generic) (Walgreen’s) pill was part of a cocktail to ease third trimester nausea. I didn’t want to drug myself, so I suffered through two extra days after the doctor told me to try it before giving in.
Nothing has ever knocked me out the way that tiny pill did. I slept from 9:30 p.m. until 5:30 a.m., post-time-change. Nine hours in bed? Me? Madame I-function-on-five-hours-of-sleep-a-night? I slept through the night? (Well, except for that time Nicholas woke up wailing, and Christian would not wake up. “Oh, for crying out loud!” I snapped as I hauled my pregnant body out of bed. “I’m the one who took a sleeping pill!”)
At 5:30 I went downstairs and turned on the computer. While it warmed up I went over to the couch…and conked out again.
It was a single parenting day…Christian had the mother of all announcements coming out at work in the afternoon, so he went to early Mass and returned home to find that I had dressed and fed the kids…and gone back to sleep.
I had to lead the choir. From the piano. The queasiness was somewhat better, but that sleepiness…wow. I wasn’t sure I was going to make it through Mass without toppling off the bench.
With help from an obliging alto, I got the kids to the van and back home. In a fog I put lunch on the table. Answered Christian’s phone call. “Is it possible this is the Unisom still making me feel this way?” I said blearily.
Pause. “Oh, crap,” he said. “I’m not going to be home till at least 6:30.”
I hauled myself up the stairs after the little ones, muscled them down for naps. “Alex, you can play computer games,” I said, and collapsed into bed. And woke up an hour and a half later. Mustered the energy to make the first fresh meal in four days. I didn’t have the energy for a side dish. I offered microwave popcorn instead. And a movie.
Christian walked in at 7p.m. At 8:30 p.m., the fog finally began to clear.
Ah, Unisom. My one and only one-night stand. It was nice knowing you. Or not.
Kathleen M. Basi 
Hee! I love your take on the prompt. But ugh- that must have been so very hard!
Yes, well…it makes a good story, and that’s the most important thing, right? 😉
That must have been hard. So very hard. I know how I feel when I am exhausted and that’s minus medication. Thank goodness for movies and popcorn 🙂
I’m just the opposite, sleep medication just does not touch me! 😉
In the past, it’s never touched me either. Hoo-boy!
I get into that zombie state after taking half a regular dose of Benadryl for allergies… it’s scary!
I was rather surprised when my first OB-GYN perscribed Unisom to me, after I lost 10 pounds during my 1st trimester due to severe morning sickness. I refused to take it, because its active ingredient is Bendictin.
Doctors are still debating over whether Bendictin caused all the birth defects attributed to it, but I grew up believing that my congenital heart defect was a result of my mother taking perscription Bendictin during her pregnancy. That was the commonly held belief by doctors at the time.
It’s unusual to be feeling queasy during the last trimester, isn’t it? Has it improved (since the beginning) or worsened?
According to my doctor, they’ve approved Bendictin again in Canada and are discussing it for the US. He’s a pretty cautious guy about my babies so I’m not worried about the medication…only the side effect!
I hardly ever have much morning sickness in the first trimester. But these last two pregnancies, that third trimester is a booger. Relaxin working on the stomach, he tells me.
Interesting news…. I should ask whether its safe to use on children with motion sickness too. Although Mia seems to be cured of that now, *fingers crossed*… we couldn’t take her anywhere in the car (longer than 15 minutes) without her getting sick all over the place.
I began packing extra clothing, towels, wet wipes, and bottles of water as a matter of course… long after the “diaper bag” was officially retired.
Regarding the 3rd trimester nausea, I did a bit of Googling and apparently it’s normal for some women to experience. Hehehe I was a bit concerned for you! 😛
Have you tried eating something sour, like hard candies? You know what worked for me – those atomic fireballs. Seriously. That, and small meals eaten very slowly. LOL
I also like your take on the prompt. I can feel how tired you must have been and wow – cudos to you for getting through the day!
That stinks you had to suffer through nausea like that. But I have totally experienced the post-pill sleepy haze that lasts all day, and it is awful if you have to actually function. Great post.
OMG that is insane! I’ve had issues similiar to that with codiene. Being pregnant, I can’t even imagine how that must have made you feel!
Lisa
I love your twist on the prompt. Clever girl!
Sometimes it’s good to be knocked out like that.
You know, when you really need it.
Or not. 😉
Great take on the prompt. I can’t take pain killers because it does that to me. Even after my c-section, the pain was better then the crappy hung over like tiredness I got every day. I know how you feel.
After my last C-section, we didn’t even fill the prescriptions. All they are are souped up ibuprofin & tylenol, anyway, and they cause constipation. So I just made do with basic ibuprofin & acetaminophen. (However you spell that.)
I enjoyed this story. As others said, this was a great take on the prompt. I suppose at a different in your life this could have been marvelous, but with young kids, falling asleep at a drop of a hat can be scary.
However, I thank you for this post for another reason. As I’ve gotten older, sleep has become a much less frequent visitor. My kids are grown and out of the house. My cat sleeps most of the time anyway and so, she’ll forgive me. Therefore, I off to buy some Unisom. I think I’m ready for this one night stand:~)
Hee hee! Glad to be of service. Too bad you don’t live close enough to stop by and pick up the almost untouched package that I don’t dare use again!
Oh, I’ve only had such insane, bleary-eyed fatigue once in my life. During, you guessed it, pregnancy.
I would take screaming baby tired over hormone growing baby tired any day of the week.
That makes me feel better; I’ve been getting nervous about plunging back into newborn land!
Unisom flattened me for two days straight. That was 10 years ago and I haven’t touched it since.
I found club soda helped with the nausea a little bit for me. Then again, I BARELY made it into my third trimester before having Daniel so maybe I shouldn’t talk.
You painted the ‘doomed ‘ scenario to a ‘d’. Well done! Thinking of you at this difficult time 🙂
ahh the post sleeping pill hangover. That fog is wretched and it sounds like you handled it marvelously with the kids. I mean, you remembered to feed them! I’d call that a win. 😉
Have you tried freezie pops for nausea? They helped me and if they don’t help you, I’m sure you kids will take them off your hands