This isn't a scientific study or evidence based anything. It is just my experience and my thoughts on the matter.
I have dealt with insomnia my whole life but pregnancy insomnia is on a whole different level. Sleeping while young and busy is something that you can play with amounts and timing. Unfortunately, when you are pregnant and already a mother that is something that is essential to daily life. If one nap or hour is missed, life goes haywire.
Working while pregnant caused me to think twice about what was priority. I had to rarely get to work when the spots swimming in front of my eyes blocked my vision and my head in the toilet caused my already tardy self to be not only later but absentee. I was so sick straight through my fifth month with no "just the first trimester" morning sickness. It was going to last all throughout my pregnancy and I had to find a solution.
The first solution was to constantly eat. Keeping my belly full kept the nausea away most times. Problem is I was eating every hour and a half to two hours. That meant sneaking snacks on the job or risk the extra trips to the bathroom to puke if I forgot to eat within a certain time frame. It worked but it felt like a job in itself and my weight was climbing. I was glad my baby was getting the nutrients it needed but varicose veins,leg cramps, numbness, contractions,dizziness (still?!), fatigue and not even in my third trimester was worrisome. There was something that had to be done.
I took an unofficial vacation in my second trimester. I received fluids and medication at the emergency room and at my midwife. They recommended both a maternity belt and support stockings for my legs. It was a week before my legs stopped going numb and stinging in the morning but I did see some relief. I was happy and felt healthier. You see, my job required me to be on my feet the whole time. I did have shorter hours sometimes but it wasn't enough for my body. I started out this pregnancy overweight and at only 5' 4" tall it was having a great impact on my quality of life and health of myself and my unborn child. I needed this break. The days off allowed me to recuperate but when I returned back to work it all came flooding back again.
I stopped working and I slept! I slept and slept and slept! My legs have occasionally felt numb or cramping from sitting too much but nothing like the constant pain I had felt before. We slept so much that we jetlagged ourselves. My preschooler who follows my schedule was up late and sleeping late with mommy. We had a retail schedule before but this was ridiculous. I needed to fix it and everyday we try to sleep 15 minutes early. Pregnancy insomnia was what evolved. My preschooler got her schedule fixed but I was still up late into the night. I don't know what was the reason at first but now it is clear.
My pregnancy insomnia was from now being all better and feeling healthier but the time FLEW! I was inching towards the third trimester and was able to get nothing done that a mother gets done her second trimester. I had no chance while working and sick for that second trimester "energy". I was using the motorized chairs at Target to do the groceries with my health the way it was that whole time. Now already too big, I was stressed that I was going to be in the longest third trimester exhaustion-filled months I have ever felt in all my pregnancies. Already I am worried that I am inching thirty and not as in good shape as I was with my elder two children, I keep asking myself if I will ever get anything done. So what can a mother do?
I decided to embrace it. One day I was up all night writing blogs and scheduling them. I editing videos the next. I enjoyed the peace and quiet that was night. I could focus and take care of many things that I have been wanting to do. I felt accomplished and got maybe a weeks worth of that second trimester "energy" before the morning sickness crawled back into my life.The sleep! It was the key to my cure for the nausea. I hadn't been eating as much but the sleep was gone. I was enjoying being awake while baby was kicking but the acid got kicked up too. I started feeling nervous and panicky. I wanted to crawl in a ball and just sleep. Only problem was the insomnia was still present. How was I to get rid of it?
Mediation. I wanted to exercise to get the panic out of my body. I needed to shake the stress and nervousness out of my body. We danced all day and into the night. Once night fell and I was alone with my wakefulness so I meditated. It was the only thing that regained my focus I found in the peace of the night. I do it during the day now. I am practicing it in the subway and city buses which get overcrowded and stressful especially when a heavily pregnant woman cannot find a seat or even more especially with a four year old in tow. I would close my eyes, breathe and soon enough there was a seat available or a kind person offereing their seat. Mind you, I am a born and raised New Yorker so my initial reaction is to roll my eyes, scoff and step on some toes to get a seat. This was a difficult task to do but it eventually became a part of my daily life. More and more is rolling off my back and causing me less and less stress.
Ginger ale, crackers and cheese sticks are still my very best friends. But sleep, we are in matrimonial bliss. Taking little steps as mentally distressing, physically replenishing and emotionally centering were my cures to pregnancy insomnia and morning sickness too.
-Lulu
I have dealt with insomnia my whole life but pregnancy insomnia is on a whole different level. Sleeping while young and busy is something that you can play with amounts and timing. Unfortunately, when you are pregnant and already a mother that is something that is essential to daily life. If one nap or hour is missed, life goes haywire.
Working while pregnant caused me to think twice about what was priority. I had to rarely get to work when the spots swimming in front of my eyes blocked my vision and my head in the toilet caused my already tardy self to be not only later but absentee. I was so sick straight through my fifth month with no "just the first trimester" morning sickness. It was going to last all throughout my pregnancy and I had to find a solution.
The first solution was to constantly eat. Keeping my belly full kept the nausea away most times. Problem is I was eating every hour and a half to two hours. That meant sneaking snacks on the job or risk the extra trips to the bathroom to puke if I forgot to eat within a certain time frame. It worked but it felt like a job in itself and my weight was climbing. I was glad my baby was getting the nutrients it needed but varicose veins,leg cramps, numbness, contractions,dizziness (still?!), fatigue and not even in my third trimester was worrisome. There was something that had to be done.
I took an unofficial vacation in my second trimester. I received fluids and medication at the emergency room and at my midwife. They recommended both a maternity belt and support stockings for my legs. It was a week before my legs stopped going numb and stinging in the morning but I did see some relief. I was happy and felt healthier. You see, my job required me to be on my feet the whole time. I did have shorter hours sometimes but it wasn't enough for my body. I started out this pregnancy overweight and at only 5' 4" tall it was having a great impact on my quality of life and health of myself and my unborn child. I needed this break. The days off allowed me to recuperate but when I returned back to work it all came flooding back again.
I stopped working and I slept! I slept and slept and slept! My legs have occasionally felt numb or cramping from sitting too much but nothing like the constant pain I had felt before. We slept so much that we jetlagged ourselves. My preschooler who follows my schedule was up late and sleeping late with mommy. We had a retail schedule before but this was ridiculous. I needed to fix it and everyday we try to sleep 15 minutes early. Pregnancy insomnia was what evolved. My preschooler got her schedule fixed but I was still up late into the night. I don't know what was the reason at first but now it is clear.
My pregnancy insomnia was from now being all better and feeling healthier but the time FLEW! I was inching towards the third trimester and was able to get nothing done that a mother gets done her second trimester. I had no chance while working and sick for that second trimester "energy". I was using the motorized chairs at Target to do the groceries with my health the way it was that whole time. Now already too big, I was stressed that I was going to be in the longest third trimester exhaustion-filled months I have ever felt in all my pregnancies. Already I am worried that I am inching thirty and not as in good shape as I was with my elder two children, I keep asking myself if I will ever get anything done. So what can a mother do?
I decided to embrace it. One day I was up all night writing blogs and scheduling them. I editing videos the next. I enjoyed the peace and quiet that was night. I could focus and take care of many things that I have been wanting to do. I felt accomplished and got maybe a weeks worth of that second trimester "energy" before the morning sickness crawled back into my life.The sleep! It was the key to my cure for the nausea. I hadn't been eating as much but the sleep was gone. I was enjoying being awake while baby was kicking but the acid got kicked up too. I started feeling nervous and panicky. I wanted to crawl in a ball and just sleep. Only problem was the insomnia was still present. How was I to get rid of it?
Mediation. I wanted to exercise to get the panic out of my body. I needed to shake the stress and nervousness out of my body. We danced all day and into the night. Once night fell and I was alone with my wakefulness so I meditated. It was the only thing that regained my focus I found in the peace of the night. I do it during the day now. I am practicing it in the subway and city buses which get overcrowded and stressful especially when a heavily pregnant woman cannot find a seat or even more especially with a four year old in tow. I would close my eyes, breathe and soon enough there was a seat available or a kind person offereing their seat. Mind you, I am a born and raised New Yorker so my initial reaction is to roll my eyes, scoff and step on some toes to get a seat. This was a difficult task to do but it eventually became a part of my daily life. More and more is rolling off my back and causing me less and less stress.
Ginger ale, crackers and cheese sticks are still my very best friends. But sleep, we are in matrimonial bliss. Taking little steps as mentally distressing, physically replenishing and emotionally centering were my cures to pregnancy insomnia and morning sickness too.
-Lulu
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