Well, alright, I suppose Pat Benetar actually said that Love is a battlefield but for me, it’s sleep.
This is probably no surprise to any pregnant woman in the waning weeks of her term, and especially moms of multiples in their 3rd trimester. Every night, as I start to get sleepy, I actually dread going up to bed. This is most definitely a new phenomenon. We have a very comfortable bed, with plenty of pillows and a down comforter. I usually love curling up and getting cozy on a nice, cool night. If the windows are open, even better. But no more. I know the fight that is coming.
To start off, the end of the evening is generally my most uncomfortable time of day. I have to spend much of the night lying down, due to swelling feet, Braxton Hicks contractions, and other random aches and pains. I’ve probably already had 3 quarts of water, but this doesn’t completely stop the swelling. Sciatica often makes an appearance, with the pain running from my hip all the way down the side of my leg to my ankle. And if that doesn’t happen. you can be sure I’ll meet up with my old friend, Restless Legs Syndrome. For me, it feels sort of like someone is tickling the back of my knee and WON’T STOP! With either RLS or sciatica, no amount of stretching or position changing seems to make it any better. I just have to wait it out.
And with all of this discomfort, I finally decide it’s time to go up to bed. I haul my (increasingly large) behind up the stairs, brush my teeth, pee for the 25th time that day, and head into the bedroom to start the arrangements. I never did get a pregnancy pillow, so I carefully set up a minimum of four pillows in strategic positions. Two for my head, one between my knees, and one in front to both “hug” and to support my aching belly. Sometimes I add another pillow behind me, to help avoid rolling flat onto my back: a position now certain to cut off circulation within five minutes. Once the pillows are set up, I carefully huff and puff my way onto my side. I can only hope I’m so tired that I fall asleep immediately, because if I don’t (and I usually don’t), it only takes a few minutes for my back and hips to start aching, so sick they are of being on my side.
Once I do fall asleep, it generally doesn’t last long. By about 3AM, I’ve likely woken up at least four times to roll over (a feat in itself) or make yet another trip to the bathroom. By 4AM, I’m often wide awake. Sometimes it’s due to a strange or disturbing dream, sometimes I’m just caught up in a thought, and sometimes I’m just so sore from sleeping on my side that I have to shift nearly all my pillows up against the headboard and hope for another fitful hour or so of sleep while sitting up. But even that seldom lasts long, as I have to be almost completely upright to avoid having the weight of the babies cut off my circulation and make feel dizzy. Sleepy as I am, I’m almost grateful when it’s time to get up and go to work, so I can end another night of battling my body.
I know that, in some ways, this is just a teeny preview of the sleep disturbances that lie ahead. But at least then I’ll be able to lie on my back…
I know how you feel – at least to some degree. Sleep is becoming a precious, rare commodity. Your description of how you “huff and puff” you way onto your side is spot on!
In the wee hours of this morning, I was awakened by that unmistakable GACK sound that says an animal has barfed. Hooray for dogs who barf on your carpet at 4:00am!! It’s going to be a GREAT day.
Do you find you loathe people yet who say, “the lack of sleep you’re getting now is just to prepare you for the lack of sleep you’ll get when the babies arrive”? I want to punch those people. But then, I want to punch a lot of people these days. Hormones are fun!
Hope you can get some good rest soon. But if not, at least you’ll have the few days in the hospital when you might be able to rest at least a little more comfortably (post-c-section morphine is fun!)