I'm sure my husband was starting to feel like it was impossible.
And at times I had to wonder what on Earth I was thinking, being married to someone with this kind of problem.
I loved most things about him, but not the snoring! I really should have known better.
I grew up in a home with a Dad who snores.
He is the most wonderful and loving Dad in the world of course, but the noise at night drove all of us crazy.
Especially my Mom.
They didn't know as much about snoring solutions back then! By the time I was about twelve she had the master bedroom all to herself, and Dad had to fend for himself on the living room sofa.
So when I met my wonderful husband, Richard, the snoring didn't seem too unusual.
Maybe part of me thought that was just how things were supposed to be.
In the beginning I could usually deal with it.
I'd wake up and hear him snoring and tap him on the shoulder.
He would turn over and stop snoring, at least for a while.
Sometimes if it happened too many times in one night he'd complain.
But after all, I was the one losing all that sleep, so I felt I had the right to speak up! I only wished I knew how to make it stop.
Things got a little more difficult after our daughter was born.
Already somewhat lacking in sleep, now I felt lucky to get any at all.
Between the baby and the snoring, it was tough.
And I'll never forget one night.
I had a bad cold and was very stuffed up.
Not too surprisingly, this made me snore! And did I ever hear about it from Richard! He woke me up, often, complaining bitterly, telling me that my snoring was loud, incessant, and was keeping him awake.
It was all I could do not to laugh.
I did, however, remind him that he usually snored loudly and incessantly EVERY NIGHT.
His reaction? "Well, you're used to it!" Nice.
As if not getting any sleep is something you really get used to.
I was afraid Richard's snoring problem was starting to take a toll on our relationship.
Then one day, after an especially bad night, I almost fell asleep behind the wheel on the way home from work.
We really needed to find a way to stop snoring fast.
We decided it was time to look for a better solution.
Have you seen those little bands they sell at the pharmacy? You are supposed to put one over the bridge of your nose, and it is supposed to keep your air passages more open so that you won't snore? Well, we tried those.
Maybe they worked a little bit.
But honestly, I think they are more intended to help someone who has recently started snoring, or is stuffed up and snoring temporarily, like I was.
Long term, there was little change for my husband.
We knew there were all sorts of stop snoring devices out there - chin straps and these giant belt like contraptions that you strap around your chest, that are supposed to keep you sleeping on your side all night.
Richard was a good sport about giving them a try.
But these turned out to be very impractical, and neither of us could imagine wearing things like this to bed every night for a lifetime.
Another one of the snoring remedies we had heard about was that drinking alcohol too close to bedtime could aggravate snoring.
Richard tried an experiment.
One night he would have a drink or two in the evening, another night not.
This did to seem to make a difference - sometimes.
But it seemed a little random.
Often he would snore anyway, even after not drinking for several nights in a row.
It just didn't seem like a solution we could count on at all.
Richard could stand to lose some weight, and we knew that being overweight is one of the common causes of snoring.
But my Dad has always been thin and fit, and it didn't stop him.
And Richard was very slender when he was younger, and he snored then too.
Again, this solution didn't look very dependable.
Then one day I was on the Internet looking for more possible ways to get my partner to stop snoring.
I happened to find a web site written by a man named Christian Goodman, who also had a lifelong snoring problem.
His research had shown him that when someone is snoring, there is always some kind of blockage in the breathing passages that is causing it.
The flow of air in the breathing passage will quickly become irregular if there is any kind of block there, which is what makes the snoring sound.
As it happened, Goodman's wife was a vocal instructor, who was familiar with a type of exercise that would strengthen the breathing passages and keep them open and unobstructed for singing.
She taught Christian the exercises she used with her students, and after about three weeks of regular practice, Christian was able to stop snoring naturally! I mentioned what I had found to Richard.
Of course we were both skeptical, after the disappointments we had experienced with the other methods we tried.
But being a musician himself, Richard felt that this one made sense, and was worth giving it a shot.
He started with just one of the simple stop snoring exercises that Goodman describes in detail in his book "The Stop Snoring Exercise Program", and after a few days, it seemed like the snoring was at least getting quieter! So he tried some of the others.
If I remember right, it took about a month before we saw really solid and lasting results, but believe me it was a month well spent! Does any of this sound familiar to you? Why deprive yourself or your partner of any more sleep? If one or both of you has a snoring problem, this is a solution that is very likely to work for you as well!