Monday, March 8, 2010

Restless Nights

I used to be the super sleeper. I used to be able to fall asleep anytime, anyplace, for any duration. I was just an amazing sleeper. I had glorious, deep, restful sleeps and now... not so much. Of course I expected that having a child my sleep would be interrupted, however, I thought I would have nine months to brace myself before that happened. I instead have had difficulty sleeping since month 2 and now that I am fast approaching month 5 and my belly is swelling everyday I am becoming concerned.

My ultimate sleeping position historically has been on my stomach, something that massage and physiotherapists alike have warned against. But how can you deny something that feels so right. Well naturally at 19 weeks sleeping on my stomach is officially no longer an option and I'm not supposed to sleep on my back either (something about increased blood pressure). So it's the side sleep and ideally with a pillow between my legs for optimal support that I must come to terms with. Sounds fine, until I find myself awake in the middle of the night tossing and turning, trying to find a way to make this new position feel natural and relaxed.

Then there are the bathroom trips. So all the books say it's a good idea to not drink water a few hours before going to bed but again I have been a major liquid drinker my whole life. I feel constantly thirsty and have taken a glass of water to bed with me since I was a child. In the past I would either hold it in the night or wake up go to the bathroom and immediately fall back to sleep. Well not anymore. If anything wakes me up, my ability to fall back asleep is no longer active and I am forced to toss and turn and often times waking up my husband in the process.

I guess this is a sort of weird training for late night feedings that are to come but I never expected to start training so soon. I also never expected to have such a difficult time falling back to sleep. I used to think that waking up in the night would be hard but I am such an amazing sleeper that I would easily fall back to sleep and napping on command when the baby was sleeping during the day would be a piece of cake. Well as usual nothing is what I thought it would be but hopefully I am building some sort of tolerance to being perpetually tired and cranky.

1 comment:

  1. Hi Jane,

    For the longest time I used to sleep on my back. Then, I was told I couldn't do it anymore. So, I went out and bought a 'snoogle' which is essentially a noodle-shaped pillow. It is supposed to help you sleep on your side, which it did for me for some time. Then, one day, I got too big. Sleeping on my left side just wasn't comfortable anymore... BUT EVERYONE TOLD ME sleeping on my left-side was optimal; it would help get my baby into the correct position (head down, etc.). All I can say to this is BLAH, BLAH, BLAH.

    At the recommendation of my pre-natal yoga teacher, I went to see an Osteopath. In one sense, I've always been curious about what an Osteopath does, and secondly, I figured I could combine a visit to my RMT and Physio in one. The Osteopath told me that "Women have been sleeping in all sorts of positions for thousands of years. If [by sleeping on your back] you cut off the circulation to your baby, you'll cut it off to your right leg, too, and you will feel it. It will be painful. You will wake up. Sleep in whatever position makes you the most comfortable." It was like she finally gave me permission to follow my instincts and sleep in the position that provided me with the most comfort.

    Now that I'm 'so big', I generally sleep on my left or right side. And, as I'm waking up three times a night to go pee, anything that provides some sense of comfort [including sleeping in the 'wrong' position] is welcome.

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