It was already late when I climbed into bed.  My head was buzzing with thoughts, ideas, plans.  I tried to drift off, listening to the rise and fall of my husband’s breathing, but sleep wouldn’t come.

I realised I was cold; chilled to the bone, though it wasn’t a particularly cold night.  The more I tried to snuggle into the doona and then added another doona, the colder I felt.  Even the warmth of his body next to mine didn’t warm me as it usually does.

At some stage in the early hours of the morning I must have fallen into a fitful sleep, interrupted occasionally by cold shudders.  No more than an hour later, the dog, who normally sleeps peacefully was wandering around the room, up and down, her nails click-clacking on the wooden boards.  Perhaps she couldn’t sleep either?

I took her outside, standing naked on the deck while she poddled out to the garden to do her business.  A heat bag was warming in the microwave.  Ding, it was ready.  I took it, and the dog, back to bed and slid in beside my husband, who by now was sleeping fitfully.  Perhaps he also had thoughts and worries on his mind.

The warmth of the heat bag slowly thawed by body and I slept.  But not for long.  Within the hour, the dog was pacing again.  What was wrong with her, she never goes out twice.  Perhaps she was picking up on our anxiety.  So, with a dressing gown wrapped tightly around me this time, out I went again.  She’s quick to do her business and ran back into the relative warmth of the house.  This time, thank goodness, she settled and slept.

Finally, I was warm and thought I’d rest peacefully for the rest of the morning.  But, no more than two hours later my husband cried out in pain, startling me with concern. He swore for a while and then after determining he was not having a heart attack and it was in fact a strong cramp in his calf (very painful) we went back to sleep for an hour before the alarm blared into life, announcing that it was already time to start the new day.

No matter how stressful and bleak things appeared in the quiet, cold of the night, the dawn arrived and together we will face whatever life throws at us.