Learning to sleep ... together

Six months later, we're still refining the art of sleeping in the same bed together.  Somehow over the years I've become a light sleeper (maybe from when I used to live by myself, I became heightened to hearing every noise??), so trying to ignore every shift and breath (especially during high peak allergy seasons) of Mark's has been a challenge for me. 

I've tried every earplug drugstores sell -- not joking.  Either I can't put them in right or they fall out when I'm sleeping or I can hear everything through them, so those weren't working.  Needless to say, when I didn't use them, Mark did not appreciate me waking him up every couple of hours and asking him to rollover and I was basically suffering from long-term lack of sleep.  We always have the ceiling fan on high, I have a portable fan on my nightstand next to my bed and we have white noise of rain playing pretty loudly also on my nightstand.  I usually make sure to go to bed before Mark so that I fall asleep first (that boy falls asleep in only a couple of minutes!), and I have been taking melatonin every night to help me fall asleep quicker.  Mark can't stand wearing breathing strips at night, so we tried to rotate nights where I'd have to wear the sad earplugs that didn't really work and Mark wearing breathing strips.  What else was I to do??

Short of Mark going to see a doctor about breathing easier at night, I found out about custom made earplugs that audiologists can make.  So earlier this month, I went and got fitted for a pair of my own in hopes it would solve my struggle of putting in earplugs.  Three weeks later, I picked them up Monday!

New problem: They drown out the noise pretty well, but they also hurt my ears when I lay on either side.  Nooooooo!  So now I wake up constantly throughout the night because my ears are hurting and I have to roll to the other side until the other side hurts enough to wake me up.  Repeat.

I've contacted the audiologist to see if this is a common problem, or if perhaps the fit isn't right.  The earplugs weren't cheap, by any means, and the fit is supposed to be guaranteed.  So we'll see what happens. 

Until then, I just remember how blessed I am to have someone whom I love so dearly sleeping next to me every night. 

We'll get there.