This is multifactorial:

1. Feline vector: The cats spend most of the night slowly absorbing all the free space on the bed, so Chris and I wake up because we have contorted ourselves into uncomfortable positions. Most of the time Tia isn’t a problem. She will hang out on my pillow or at the head of the bed in between us, or at my feet at the foot. Rollie is a bastard. He either sleeps between us and takes all the covers, or he will lie crossways, or he will decide that he doesn’t like that Tia is on the bed so he will start meowing and carrying on i.e. “brrrrr! brrrriii! ruh! rrrr! rrreow!” and start clawing and picking at the quilt. This wakes me up, and I will grab him and toss him off the bed. The rare time I have to do this to Tia because of her being annoying or clingy, she gets the hint and either quietly sneaks back up on the bed and curls up in a tiny unnoticeable ball at the foot or will leave for another quieter sleeping spot. Rollie just doesn’t get it. He gets dumped on the floor, and then his little brain chugs for a while and then he thinks “Hey! I am on the floor! What happened?” and he starts purring and jumps back up on the bed and walks all over us…”Hey! Hi! guys! I was on the floor! But I am back now!”. This isn’t even restricted to the bed…Rollie will hang out in the doorway and block Tia’s passage which involves a lot more brrrr-ing and hissing and growling, or he will try and take over her spot on the top of one of the dressers which usually involves a noisy slap fight.

We’ve tried locking them in the basement and closing the bedroom door but in both cases Rollie has either howled all night, destroyed the carpet or doorframe, or in one memorable incident, decided that the solution to his incarceration was rhythmically throwing himself against the door all night.

2. Chris and I have switched sides of the bed. I usually sleep on my stomach or right side exclusively, facing out from the bed. Due to the weight of the baby, I am supposed to be sleeping propped up on my back or on my left side. The only way I can stand to sleep on my left side is to be facing out from the bed, which necessitated the switch. Problem is, in his sleep, Chris gravitates towards “his side”, which means in practice I get about 1/3 to 1/4 of the bed, and Chris takes the rest, and is usually almost right on top of me, which I find extremely claustrophobic. I have tried poking him and rolling him over, but that just wakes him up and he gets grumpy too. Lately I have just been getting up and either sleeping on the couch or in the spare room. The cats love this and either take my spot in the bed, or come sleep with me.

2.a. In addition, Chris sometimes now will snore, even when he is lying on his side. I have to nudge him mercilessly in order to get him to roll over.

3. Bladder issues. I will be SO HAPPY when I don’t have to get up multiple times in the night to pee. Normally I sleep very well, I fall asleep and then wake up in the morning. I almost never have to pee in the night. Now I wake up 2-3 times a night and have to go to the bathroom. Then it takes me a long time to fall back asleep, and there is usually some cat-wrangling as someone will have stolen my warm spot in the bed.

4. Wonky thermostat. I am either freezing or boiling at night. Somehow my temperature regulation has gone haywire so I often wake up because I am too hot or too cold. Also my nose is stuffed up a lot of the time so I have to breathe through my mouth which I detest. It feels like I constantly have a cold.

There are other things too (aches and pains, baby kicking and waking me up) but the bottom line is I haven’t been sleeping well and I don’t like it!

I need to schedule a nap this afternoon.