And you think I don't sleep!!!

Sooner or later, everyone pulls an all-nighter. Goodness knows I pulled a few last month! The thing is, even though I may have been going to bed in the wee hours of the morning, I'm blessed to have a child who sleeps in pretty late, so I was still getting between six to eight hours of sleep every night.

Not getting enough sleep sucks. I remember those first weeks when the baby was born! I went into it thinking that I really knew what being tired felt like - after all, I did go to college and I did the going out on a worknight thing when I was younger! The thing is though, when you're doing that kind of missing out on sleep, you usually find a way to get back on track, even if it is just for a few days. Having a little person who is up every three hours to eat kind of keeps that from happening! As a result, you get to be pretty familiar with the short term effects of only getting a few hours of sleep a night: fatigue, irritability, careless mistakes, slow reaction times, and increased stress. Fortunately though, after a few months your baby (hopefully) will start to sleep for longer stretches and so will you.

Since my husband and I started dating, it's been pretty obvious that we both are most productive at night. The problem is that calling him a "Night Owl" is putting it mildly. You know how little kids will want to stay up past their bedtimes and deny being sleepy even as they're yawning and dozing off in front of the TV? Yeah well, my husband never grew out of that. We used to have knock down, drag out fights because of this. I would get so mad because every night, I went to bed alone. That just didn't seem right to me! Eventually though, I decided to pick my battles and I let it go. He would tuck me in and then go about his business. I told myself it was just how he was and that it would come in handy when we had a baby (which it did).

The problem I'm having now is that it's getting worse. Where before, he would finally drag himself to bed and sleep for 3 or 4 hours each night, it seems like now never even makes it in! He usually passes out on the couch, slumped over in a sitting position. He's late to work a lot because of it. He tells me that because he is salaried that it doesn't matter as long as he works however many hours he should be there, but this means he works late EVERY NIGHT. Sometimes he doesn't get home until seven!

There's another thing too. Before, he would fall asleep during the day, whenever, wherever. We'd go over to a friend's house and he'd doze off on the sofa. We'd attend parties and he'd be passed out on a chair, even though he didn't drink anything. It was so embarrassing but he just didn't get that. To him, it was a joke, a blessing that he could sleep anywhere and everywhere. To me, it was hurtful and rude. He could sleep anywhere but with me in our bed. During the day, when we were up and I was trying to interact with him, he'd fall asleep while I was talking or trying to show him something.

Well, the other day, something scary happened. We were in the car, and when I looked over at him, HIS EYES WERE CLOSED! As I watched in horror, his head started to droop forward toward his chest. That's right folks, he fell asleep while he was driving! In the past few months he's fallen asleep while waiting at stoplights too. It wasn't even at night - I'm talking these incidents were in the middle of the day. This is DANGEROUS! What if I hadn't been there to yell and wake him up? What if I hadn't been there to make him pull over and let me drive?

Also, sometimes when he is supposed to be watching the baby, I see him fall asleep on the floor. I ask you, who is then watching the baby? What if I had been out of the house, or in the bathroom, or still asleep? What if he had gotten into something and really been hurt?

I feel like this is a battle I need to choose now. My husband is no longer a single 20 year old. He has a family now and is closer to 40 than 30. He needs to take better care of himself, and he refuses to do so. Not only does he not sleep, he doesn't eat breakfast, works though most of his lunch breaks, eats stuff like a pop tart or a cookie for lunch if he even eats anything, and most of all, he doesn't freaking SLEEP!!! I'm really worried and stressed over this.

I tried to appeal to him as his wife. I'd like to go to bed together. I think that would be nice. I tried to appeal to him as a father. He needs to be rested so he has enough energy to enjoy his son. I tried to appeal to him as an employee. If he were better rested he'd be able to better concentrate on his job. I tried to appeal to his health. Not getting enough sleep has been associated over 50 health problems, including heart disease, a weakened immune system, cancer, diabetes, depression, high blood pressure, obesity, premature aging and symptoms similar to those of Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD).

Nothing works. Nothing. I'm so angry and frustrated with him over this right now. I'm tired of all the excuses of why he "can't" go to bed. I'm tired of feeling like he doesn't care about us enough to take care of himself so that he can be there for us. I can't even talk the man into getting a simple physical! I know he hasn't been to the doctor since we've been married.

Why are men like this? Does anyone have any suggestions on how I can smack some sense into him before it's too late?