During the 3rd trimester of pregnancy, many easy tasks that we take for granted in everyday life become more and more difficult. One of it being...to sleep.
First, it is becoming harder to find a comfortable position to lie down nowadays.
Sleep on the back: the back will be painful after a while...
Sleep on the stomach: you can't...not with a basketball-sized belly...
Sleep side, left (which many say is the best position for the baby and mommy) or right: the not so bad options.
But still, my rib cage muscle will become sore and painful after a while. Sleep left, left rib muscle will be aching; sleep right, right rib muscle will be aching. So when one side is aching, I'll need to turn to another side. And because the big belly always gets in the way, turning myself will always wake me up as I need to use both hands to support the belly and turn...like a turtle on its back.
Secondly, the hot flashes and sweating.
Hubby said I have transformed from a sweetie to a sweatie since I got pregnant, that is I sweat a lot.
Even though the air-con is ON all the time and is set at 22°C constantly, my palms and feet are almost always wet. My naughty hubby will sometimes hold my feet and pretends to smell it, then pretends to get choked and fainted. Sigh...It shouldn't be that bad right...? I always try to cheer myself up by thinking that this is only temporary, and it will go away after the BB is born...
There were nights when I was soundly asleep, but suddenly woke up feeling warm, and found myself soaking wet in sweat. After that, I couldn't seem to get back to sleep anymore, but toss and turn on the bed waiting for morning...
Third, baby kicking, and kicking hard.
I enjoy the times when baby is kicking and moving in the stomach. It tells me that he is doing fine in there, and everything is OK.
But if the naughty BB is kicking hard when you are trying to get some sleep, that gives you sleeplessness. Still, sleeplessness is better than worrying whether he's doing ok or not.
So BB, continue kicking, swimming, and dancing whenever you feel like it.
Forth, hyperactive mind and vivid dreams.
I can remember my dreams quite well nowadays. I will try to keep remembering it for a little longer, so that I can tell hubby when he wakes up in the morning. Some dreams are about ordinary daily life events, but many are scary nightmares.
I guess maybe I think too much...or worry too much about the soon-to-arrive BB.
With the due date just around the corner, I can't help but to have a sense of insecurity that many things are still not ready...the preparation, my work, my study, the labor process, the confinement, the parenthood...all these question marks are frequent visitors of my hyperactive mind now...
Fifth, the frequent peeing.
Luckily my frequent peeing "problem" is still at a bearable level. Most of the nights I only need to visit the loo once or twice. The real problem is how to get back to sleep after that with the above mentioned hyperactive mind...another long, cool night...
Some say pregnancy insomnia is nature's way to prepare the mothers for those sleepless nights with the newborns. Perhaps! Few days ago I woke up at 4am then toss and turn. Then it became 3am, and today i was already wide awake at 2am.
Thinking of the many sleepless nights yet to come, I salute all mommies who have successfully gone through the toughest stage, and all mommies who are going through it. To those expectant like me who are awaiting to welcome the babies, gambate!
