Please Sir, May I Have More Melatonin?

Well, I have certainly been feeling quite a bit better this week. I got pictures hung in my living room that have been ready and waiting for almost a year (however, in order to do this I did have to go and buy a new piece of glass since the kids had cracked the old piece in the large frame-which is part of the reason it has taken so long), kitchen cleaned-pretty much, and the laundry room straightened up. For the last two days I have been having a shredding party getting rid of all the unnecessary paperwork that I have. Basically I hadn't filed anything in the past two years since we moved into this house. It was all in piles down in the laundry room.

Well, since having an autistic child and another who needs major surgery isn't enough my washing machine has decided to leak. Good news is that it only leaks when you use hot or warm water but not when you use the cold water so we aren't stuck wearing totally stinky clothes. Good news also is that the papers are all up on stuff so they didn't get ruined and it didn't leak so much that it got much past the periphery of the washing machine and dryer. Bad news being that it isn't covered under warranty and that the room was such a mess that a repairman couldn't come because he would have no room to work on it! So, this has forced me to "do something" about my piles. Now I have three big black garbage bags full of shredded and discarded paperwork. Hurray! Next I need to actually file the papers that remain. However, the repairman now has plenty of room to work. If any of you are close to me, I'll gladly refer you to my appliance guy-he's great.

Now, here's the best part of my week - I have my evenings back! I'll start at 8:00 pm trying to get the kids ready and in bed. Usually I can get S2 and S3 in bed and asleep by 9:00 pm. S1 on the other hand has to be hog tied and he still won't sleep. After the other two are down I grab S1 and lay down with him. That child won't sleep until 10:30 pm. Well, by the time he falls asleep, Dave has usually fallen asleep and I then have to go straight to bed or I can't get enough rest. So I never get any down time, I am always taking care of someone. Well, it had gotten to the point that I could not deal with it any more. Mentally and emotionally I am exhausted. It's hard to have to physically restrain your child every night for over an hour. Yes we are laying down but it does take exertion to hold him down every time he wants to get up. Anyway, sleep issues are common in kids with autism. Many parents have to "help" their children to sleep with various medications so that all parties may maintain their sanity. So, I finally got over the guilt and called the doctor to find out what I could do since I was at the end of my rope. He suggested Melatonin, which you can buy over the counter and which your body produces on it's own. Basically it is what makes you get sleepy when it gets dark. You can get it at Wal-Mart or most health food stores and it is relatively inexpensive.

Well, I gave it to S1 about 1 1/2 hours before I wanted him to go to bed- and it worked! An hour after he ate it with his dinner (it was a very late dinner) he came to me rubbing his eyes. I felt like the bad witch in a fairy tale, luring him to my bed as I said, "Come here little boy, lay down." I got him into his pajamas and settled into my bed and he was out. And if was just before 9 pm! Tonight I gave it to him a little earlier, since we had dinner earlier, and he was asleep by 8:30 pm. One thing I have noticed though is that he is whinier as he goes to sleep, like he is fighting it where before it was like a switch, one second awake, the next passed out. Since S3 went to bed around 8 pm and S2 was snuggled in my bed watching "Glass Bottom Boat" (an old movie) I had the evening free. It has been so nice to be able to relax and not be on alert to tell if S1 is getting into the sink spraying water every where or traipsing up and down the stairs to fix a video or TV channel. It's nice to feel normal again!