I was born at 5 AM on the day after Christmas, so the nurses presented me to my Mom in a red Christmas stocking.

This is so cute! I totally would've saved the stocking. I did save the little terry nightgown they gave us for Mallory, since it's got the hospital's name in Greek on it.

I was given a script for Ambien, and have never taken a single one. My DH has taken all of the starter pills they gave me (not all at once) and says it's sort of the stealth sleeping pill. It stops the brain-hamster from running on the wheel. Not at all like NyQuil or Benadryl.

Bah. I have no brain hamster. I guess I'll put the bottle away for when I might. Annoyingly enough, the anti-nausea medication he also prescribed makes me way loopy and sleepy, but when that wore off, I woke straight up. Sleepy enough that I don't want to take it during the day, not sleepy enough to get me through my strange insomnia.

Ambien always made me feel weird, very very relaxed and goofy, but I could fight it and stay awake (although I wouldn't be very coherent). Dad takes it and he fights it and then ends up staggering to bed and running into the walls because he can't walk right.

After awhile though I needed to take more and more in order to get the same effect so I stopped taking it, well that and I couldn't really afford that copay in addition to the necessary meds.

So how does it make sleep easier?

My understanding is that it drops you right into REM sleep and skips the stage before it where a lot of people end up stalled out.

But I could be entirely wrong in this recollection.

I'm at that fuzzy, melting into the pillow stage right now. Unfortunately, I'm at work.

The hazards of the meds I had to take this morning for the stupid sinus irritation caused by this weather. Since they now appear to be doing the "may cause drowsiness" while I'm under the influence, this means when they wear off I'll be a bit jittery. I like it better when it is the reverse.

I'm not sure what time I fell asleep last night. It was definitely after 1AM. This morning I am fuzzy, unsurprisingly. Not enough caffeine in the world.

Only got 5.5 hours of sleep last night. Stupid Daylight Savings Time. ::shakes fist at stupid dead legislators::

I have a migraine. I enrolled for benefits, and that hurt my brain. And then I read some e-mail and recalled that Friday is our annual corporate retreat.

I may cry.

My understanding is that it drops you right into REM sleep and skips the stage before it where a lot of people end up stalled out.

But I could be entirely wrong in this recollection.

I had to go look on Ambien's website, but apparently it maintains all the stages of sleep. Huh. I thought it dropped you right into REM sleep, too.

Apparently, Ambien works by enhancing the actions of the neurotransmitter GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid). GABA inhibits the transmission of nerve signals, thereby reducing nervous excitation in the brain. However, unlike benzodiazepines, Zolpidem appears to be more selective in its action and targets only one type of GABA receptor.

(I cut and pasted that directly from a website, BTW.)

Good mornings. I slept fine last night. Which is a shame because I have a ton of work to do today and should have gotten up earlier. On the plus side? Candy for breakfast.