I always get up on the right side of the bed
Raise your hands – how many women (whether you’re a mother or not) sleep on the side of the bed closest to the door?
In every single bed I’ve had, ever since I was a child, I’ve slept on the side closest to the door. I’ve always slept on the same side of the bed, but it seems that each time I moved that bed into a new bedroom, it was positioned such that my side was the one closest to the door.
Before having kids, this recurrence was merely an interesting coincidence. But when you have kids, the side of the bed on which you sleep becomes strategic. Because if you’re the one nearest the door, you’re the first one they see when they wake up in the middle of the night and make a beeline for your room. But if you’re on the far side of the bed, you might even get away with pretending that you didn’t hear them come in, let alone getting up to refill the sippie cup with water and eleven pieces of crushed ice and reassuring the child that monsters are afraid of pink rooms.
I no longer sleep on the side closest to the door. It wasn’t a conscious decision; when we moved into this house, the natural placement of the bed was such that my side was the far side.
I didn’t even realize my good fortune until Tacy started coming into our room at night…every night. And she would crawl into the bed on Kyle’s side. Granted, she would eventually land a kick in my kidneys, rudely awakening me. But I know I had it better than he did.
Now she manages to stay in her bed all night, but she still wakes up at the crack of dawn – and since Kyle is closest to the door, he’s the one she goes to first.
Interestingly, even though my mother was technically closest to the door, she slept in the middle of the bed. So my father was the one who was most accessible, and he usually tended to us in the middle of the night. Even when I didn’t come into their room, he would hear me in the bathroom during an episode of Dizzy Dreams and come help me get a glass of water and make sure I was all right.
Likewise, Kyle is now usually the one who tends to nighttime needs, unless they’re of emergency proportions and are more easily addressed using a tag-team approach.
So if your husband sleeps soundly all night every night, while you get up to refill sippies and check the closet for monsters, try rearranging your bedroom furniture. It just might make all the difference.
May 20th, 2007 at 5:11 pm
i’m raising my hand, because i sleep on the side closest to the door. i can remember, however, when i was growing up that my dad was closest to the door, but i always walked around to the side where my mom was, no matter that she was further. so i guess it doesn’t always help.
(btw, great show w/kristen the other night. finally got around to listening this afternoon.)
May 20th, 2007 at 6:48 pm
I currently sleep on the side closest to the door.
I have slept on different sides—including the middle—although for a long time I slept on a twin, which I don’t think has a side, LOL.
However, then came my husband.
He gets the left. He negotiated it, like a prenuptial agreement.
Since I am clearly flexible…I conceded. Right for me. This worked well during PG for sleeping on my left side.
Last house it meant we were equal distance to the door. Now it means I’m closest, which I have definitely noticed, since I am more disrupted.
Interesting thing to ponder…and to note!
May 20th, 2007 at 7:37 pm
Hmmm…I always sleep on the side closest to the door as well – which has meant swapping sides each time we have moved. I don’t know why – I guess I just feel more secure close to the door.
Maybe it’s time to switch sides?
May 20th, 2007 at 9:03 pm
I actually do sleep on the far side–but him being on the near side does nothing for his selective nighttime HEARING issue. For now, most of our nighttime interruptions are of the audio variety–but maybe my time is coming.
May 20th, 2007 at 9:24 pm
I’m always on the right side and in our current house, I’m furthest from the door. My son goes to my husband’s side when he wants cereal at 6:00 am (hahaha) but my daughter walks around to my side when she’s up 403 times each night. I’m all for fairness and sharing, so every other time I mutter “Your turn” and go back to sleep.
As for myself as a child, I would just sit up in bed and call out “MOM!” because I was too scared to walk down the dark hallway. Thank God my own children don’t do that. My poor mother.
May 20th, 2007 at 10:16 pm
hey – I *do* sleep closest to the door…what the hell? next to the dog, next to the cat’s treats *and* closest to the door.
hm…
May 21st, 2007 at 4:23 am
Oh, if only it were this easy.
Maybe if I sleep farthest from the door with a Fred Flintstone-type club I could persuade my husband to wake up.
May 21st, 2007 at 4:34 am
Waving hand like a maniac in the classroom YUP – I sleep closest to the door and I’m always the one to get up and do the B’s bidding, I mean, tend to my darling daughter. Good on you to make the change
May 21st, 2007 at 7:12 am
Fascinating – I always sleep on the right side of the bed, whether alone or not. In our first apartment, it meant I was on the door side. But in the second apartment, I was away from the door. Now, in our house, I’m on the door side again. And, yup, I’m always the on-call-at-night parent. However, I now sleep soundly enough at night, as does my husband, that I don’t wake up when she crawls into our bed in the middle of the night!
May 21st, 2007 at 7:29 am
I sleep farthest from the door, but am always the one to get up.
May 21st, 2007 at 10:23 am
My ideal arrangement is to sleep on the right-hand side of the bed (from your perspective in the bed if you’re lying on your back), far from the window and close to the door. The right-hand preference trumps the others, though, so right now I’m next to the window and away from the door. I only just now realized how much that rocks.
May 21st, 2007 at 10:33 am
I sleep closest to the door. I hear everything, then wake up my husband and make him go investigate. Amazingly, he has done this without complaint for fourteen years.
May 21st, 2007 at 10:49 am
Yeah, I am farthest from the door. It rocks.
May 21st, 2007 at 11:15 am
Oh my gosh. This is me! Even before we had Dawson, I was like that!!!
My husband used to get so mad at me because he’s a middle-of-the-night-bathroom-goer….
But to this day, I sleep closest to the door!
I feel a bit of deja-vu here….I’ve often wondered about this.
May 21st, 2007 at 11:28 am
actually i’ve always slept farthest from the door (long-time superstition about zombies or whatever coming through said door to kill me–don’t ask), but that doesn’t prevent bob from walking around the bed to my side. not even remotely. maybe i should start sleeping in a hotel…
May 21st, 2007 at 4:55 pm
My husband does not wake up for anything. My side of the bed or his makes no difference, he has never handled any middle of the night issues….the well-rested bastard.
May 21st, 2007 at 6:35 pm
Hmmm. This is interesting, because Husband and I were trying to figure out why I randomly switch sides when we move.
(We’ve lived in five places since we got married, four since having children. I’ve been on the right side three times and the left side twice.)
In my case, I gravitate towards the side AWAY from the door!
The one exception was when my oldest was potty training: I slept closest to the door at that house.
Now that we are moving, it will be interesting to see where I end up!
May 21st, 2007 at 7:45 pm
Brilliant! I knew there was a reason I was up 1000x a night and my husband wasn’t!!!
May 22nd, 2007 at 10:07 pm
Hello! So I sleep where ever now that I’m single. Usually on the far side, which is kind of dumb, because I don’t leap to that side, I walk all the way around. My ex used to insist that he sleep closest to the door, just in case someone burst in, he could be The Protector (aww). When we moved to the house I now live in alone, we had a sliding glass door to The Outside World and a bedroom door to deal with. He slept on the side with the door to T.O.W. Anyway, you surely can tell I am childless, so I guess it doesn’t really matter as far as this post is concerned, so I really think I should stop now. Ok, I’ll stop after I say, I like your blog – I’m a new reader. Bye now.
May 23rd, 2007 at 11:58 am
Funny – I’ve always slept on the side furthest away from the door – if an intruder was ever to enter (heaven forbid) I always thought it would be better if my husband fight him off, while I ran and got out…with the kids…go figure.