Week 29: Dear Sleep, I miss you

Oh sleep, sweet sleep. It’s something that I took for granted for so many years. If only I could go back and take all of the naps that I grumpily protested as a kid. I’ve mentioned before that my last pregnancy was a breeze, so I never really lost much sleep over those 41 weeks.
Even when my daughter arrived, sleep was still good to me. We had to actually wake her up to feed her every three hours, and she would fall right back to sleep. So, once our pediatrician gave us the green light to cut out the nighttime feedings, she slept 8 hours straight. We have had a few bumps in the road over the past 18 months, but I have never really had to deal with the sleeplessness of parenthood—until now.
In the past month or so I’ve had some scattered pregnancy insomnia, but once I hit this third trimester hit it seems that all bets are off. I am sad to say that I think sleep has officially become a thing of the past for me. Each new night is like spinning the wheel of misfortune as to which thing will be the culprit of my sleeplessness.
Sometimes it’s heartburn that no amount of medication or old wives’ tale can seem to cure. Other nights I have leg cramps that are comparable to having my legs smashed under a fallen building (or so I can imagine). Then, there are other nights where my mind is racing about all of the things left on the to-do list or what life will be like when the new baby arrives and I can’t relax. Of course, I’m also back to my old ways of peeing several times a night, so that means I have the falling asleep struggles over and over again every night. Groundhog day, anyone? What might be the worst, though, is the bizarre dreams. Luckily, I’ve found a few things that help a little bit, like finally investing in a pregnancy pillow and diffusing essential oils.
The funny thing is that anytime I share my current sleep struggles with people I seem to get the same response. “I guess your body is just preparing you for all of the sleep you’ll be missing when the baby arrives”. I mean, way to stay positive people! It’s not like you’re talking to a sleep-deprived, very pregnant, mother of a wild 18 month-old or anything. Sure maybe it’s true, and maybe this next baby will be up all hours of the night wanting to party with mama. Still, I can’t help but want to stay positive about all that.
So for now, I’ll be imagining that I have another angel baby on the way who loves sleep, using all of the essential oils at bedtime, and only talking to friends who say, “Man that sucks. I hope you sleep better tonight.”