I experienced pregnancy insomnia. In the third trimester, sleep wasn’t easy for me. Pregnancy does strange things to us physically and emotionally.
So, dear pregnant one- please know that I have been exactly where you are; doing exactly what you’re doing right now. Which, is probably lying awake at 3:00 in the morning.
It feels impossible to get comfortable at night.
You have to pee every 30 seconds, or longer if your lucky…heartburn, constipation, swollen things, weird body sensations and flatulence are part of your every day.
I promise it won’t be much longer. You will miss being able to feel the bumps, kicks, and wiggles of your little one (or your multiple little ones!) as they get comfy in your womb, and soon try to make their way out.
I can empathize completely.
Here is peek into my mind as a first time mom, waiting to meet my baby while experiencing pregnancy insomnia. This was taken directly from the journal I kept when I was pregnant with my oldest. (Owen is my husband…)
“We have nine weeks left. I don’t feel like doing much of anything, except eating, especially if it’s chocolate.
The baby has begun to have the hiccups. At first I thought there was something seriously scary happening, like a fetal seizure, but then I did some research and soothed my fears. I have not yet had any Braxton Hicks contractions that I am aware of.My fingers and hands remain swollen (but not my ankles!) I can still sort of dress my feet with socks and shoes.
The biggest annoyance is trying to get comfortable, and stay comfortable while sleeping. Throughout the pregnancy I have accumulated quite the array of pillows, but there just doesn’t seem to be enough. I have a body pillow, a pillow for my head, two special pregnancy wedge pillows to support my ever growing belly, and a couple to try and use wherever they are needed most.
They don’t work.
I wake up very frequently throughout the night to go to the bathroom, and then come back to bed and the whole getting comfortable process starts all over again. Owen also likes to inform me that I have begun to snore.
I have never snored in my life.He likes to try and lay on my pregnancy wedges while they are supporting my belly (actually he just tries to get close to me). Apparently I’ve become violent and tend to push him or hit him when this happens.
What can I say, I guess I need my space?
So, you can imagine that after all of this bedroom drama, I wake up exhausted.
I’m currently 31 weeks pregnant, technically I guess that makes me 8 months? That’s the third trimester, right? I’m no good at figuring out how many weeks = how many months, you would think it would be easy considering there are four weeks in a month right? Oh well, math was never my best subject. Needless to say, my midwife and her team will be making a home visit and bringing the birth tub in about 5 weeks. I guess that means I need to get crack-a-lackin’ on cleaning the house. Yuck.
Also, our cat Purrscilla has begun to really annoy me, I mean so much so, that I’m seriously considering getting rid of her… but Owen won’t let me. She snuck into our bedroom and peed in the baby’s bassinet. Two days later she peed on the changing table.
Apparently she has never acted this way before (which isn’t entirely true, she peed on my stuff when Owen and I moved in together, but he doesn’t remember that) according to Owen. He thinks that she thinks all of the new stuff is for her, and she doesn’t know about the baby. Okay, that’s one theory. Yet, that doesn’t explain why she would pee on her own things.
Sheesh.”
It won’t be much longer now. I’m here if you want to chat about it. That’s part of the Labor Whispering process, you know? Pregnancy insomnia is something that can be addressed, and we do discuss it in our childbirth education classes when we talk about common pregnancy complaints.
Happy comfortable sleeping!
