Last night was another rough one for both of us. The sleep dep hit Alex first. He got up from his 11:30 pm nap and moved about for 30 minutes or so and then must have sat down in the floor to do something (tie his shoes, read, play PSP...) A few minutes later I went into his room to tell him something and found him asleep on the floor. He had no idea how it happened and was really having a hard time staying awake so he got in the shower and started cycling hot and cold and I made him some tea to drink under the cold shower. He was better after that and fine after his next nap at 3:30 am.
My turn came after my 3 am nap. I was ok for about 20 minutes and then it started hitting me. Not as bad as last night, but bad enough. We went out for a walk, which helped some, but when we came back it was into the shower with me.
The hot/cold cycling shower with contrasting drink is a really excellent tool for fighting sleep deprivation. It has worked for us every time we tried it. Drinking a hot drink in a cold shower makes it easier to stand in the cold shower longer and the contrast really stimulates your nervous system.
After the shower I felt good enough to sit and watch TV without falling asleep, but I wasn't able to do anything productive until after the next nap at 7 am.
Once the sun was up I felt alert and productive. No real problems during the day. Now if we could just get past the sleep deprivation stage...