Pregnancy Sleep, or lack there of.

I've always been a pretty good sleeper, 8-9 hours a night for the most part. I LOVE sleeping. I'm kind of a night owl - even on work nights I pretty much go to sleep around midnight unless I have to wake up really early for some reason. I usually fall asleep quickly and at least before I was pregnant I slept all through the night and usually a few "snoozes" past my alarm. Well, sorry to say, I think those days of sleeping through the night are over.

The pregnancy books and websites say the type and quality of sleep you get in pregnancy corresponds with your trimester. First trimester you are peeing all the time and waking up a lot. Second trimester (the so-called honeymoon phase) you usually sleep better but sometimes wake up or have really vivid dreams. And then it all pretty much goes to hell in the third trimester.

That pattern has mostly rung true for me, but with 3 weeks still to go in the 2nd trimester, I'm already dealing with 3rd trimester sleep disturbances. Last night was pretty rough. I just couldn't get comfortable. If it wasn't my lower back hurting it was my upper back or my belly. I'd get comfy for 10 minutes or so and would then have to flip to the other side (which is not that easy anymore). I used to sleep on my back and stomach a lot - so this side sleeping is really hard. Also, my baby girl is VERY active at night. She was doing a whole dance routine last night on my major organs and although it's cute and precious it was also pretty annoying. I kept waking Neil up and accidentally hitting him with the five new pillows that have joined us in bed. I finally gave up and went to the couch around 4am. After being up for a while (and having a snack) I did manage to sleep another hour or so on the couch. Neil was nice enough to come wake me up for work but I was greeted with a lovely morning charlie horse! Oh the joys!

I know I'm not the first pregnant woman whose had issues sleeping. I think every pregnant woman does. It's just hard on me because I've never had any problems with sleep! I just hope I can figure out some ways of coping and need to try to get more rest during the day when I am comfortable. I might have to give the couch another try tonight. But I guess this is all good in the end. We're both learning to deal with interrupted and crappy sleep so we will be somewhat ready when baby comes in a few months!