This blog is {proudly} brought to you by… pregnancy insomnia.

morning

It’s 2:49am. I’m awake.

It’s just me and the glow of my computer. I’m used to it now. Me and this crazy time of morning meet at least 3 times a week.

Back when I was pregnant with Lacey I had the insomnia, but not as bad. It lasted just a month and then disappeared. This time it’s hear to stay. Back in the olden days {2008 when I was pregnant with Lacey} there wasn’t as much to do at the weird time of night/morning. I think we had dial-up internet, and there was not much to surf on the internet anyway. I should have started a blog.

Now I can entertain myself with a little TV. This morning I switched on the TV and Embarrassing Bodies came on. It’s the one show I can’t stand. It’s like accidentally walking in on your grandparents naked. I can’t switch it off fast enough. I once even caught myself trying to do it with my eyes closed. It’s that bad. I don’t get why people are so embarrassed about a condition they have that they decided to go on TV AND SHARE IT WITH THE WORLD? These are the things that I think at 2:49am.

Sleeping through the night has become a kind of miracle. I give myself a mental high five when I wake and it’s after 5am. In my head I’m like, ‘You’re a hero! You did it!’ What a feat that is. The only time waking in the middle of the night has been bothersome has been when I haven’t been home. I’ve mastered 3am at home, but not at other people’s houses. On a recent trip to the Whitsundays for work I couldn’t sleep, which would have been fine if I had my own room to do my thing in… instead we were sharing apartments. I tried to be as quiet as a mouse, but at 3am nothing is quiet. Nothing. People hear everything.

I’m enjoying being pregnant. I’m hormonal and still have that lovely teenage skin thing going on, but for the most part it’s pretty miraculous and joyous. I just feel grateful. Grateful from my hair follicles to my toes. Grateful.

Just like being pregnant with Lacey, I’m loving decorating the nursery and washing the baby clothes. I’m crazy about spicy food and milk. Preferably not together. At the markets the other day I asked for them to add chilli to my meal. I think I’m braver than I am, or they think they’re going to show me a wild ride because that stuff was hot. And up until this week I haven’t had much of an appetite. I just had no real interest in food, but something happened this week and I have an insatiable hunger. And hello sweet stuff. I had no desire for chocolate until this week. I read in my little weekly pregnancy update that the baby just got taste-buds and lots of mamas start to want chocolate. Ah, it all makes sense. Although with a diabetes test next week I’m all too aware of eating it… so have been trying to ignore the desire.

Anyways, I’m off to start my day. You know, eat weetbix, put on a load of laundry, do some work and watch some trashy TV.

What time did you wake this morning?

29 thoughts on “This blog is {proudly} brought to you by… pregnancy insomnia.”

  2. …good morning you 🙂 I had exactly the same thing with my first and am sorry to report it has stayed unchanged ever since… I tried all manor of distraction and sleep-inducing fangled method, to little effect. Most useful was a cup of chamomile and honey tea and some Nytol herbal.

    I also found a change in mental ‘attitude’ to these nightly awakenings: to make use of the time given me, when most of my daytime was taken up with motherly duties. So I would create, listen to the radio, or at least write lists of to-dos for the daytime (vacuuming at 3am was not an option, you might agree)…

    Then most ‘recently’ I discovered the art of ‘morning pages’ – a Julia Cameron habit – and now I get up, do my 3-pages of writing to de-junk my thoughts then head back to bed for some actual sleep, regular morning alarm duly deactivated 😉

    It’s not brilliant, but this ‘go with the flow’ attitude helps a whole heap rather than trying to fight it.

    A further bonus is that you can ‘see how the other half live’, aka the other hemisphere who are usually up and about with their lives while the rest of your half are asleep…

    Good luck, and get rest when you can, no matter the hour of day/night 🙂

  3. 3:45! No pregnancy, no new born! Just a four year old flushing the toilet, and I’m up! He went straight back to sleep. Me, not so much. PS. Embarrassing bodies? I’m right there with you! Ugh, so many people I know watch it, and even them talking about it makes me cover my ears and ‘la la la!’

  5. 6:30 am…. to a room full of sunshine. I love that up here (Canada) we’re finally getting some early morning sun, there’s no better more natural way to wake up. Pregnancy insomnia sounds like no fun at all… hopefully it will pass and not last the whole way through!

  6. I’m in the same boat as you Chantelle, 35 weeks and had a ‘sleep in’ till 5 o’clock this morning! Hope your diabetes test comes back fine, enjoy a little bit of chocolate if you want some, I’ve had to face my last trimester with NO CHOCOLATE AT ALL! So wrong, but it’s all for the good of our wee bean so I’m happy to do it.

      • Yes I was diagnosed at 27 weeks and hit 36 weeks tomorrow. I was really upset thinking I had done something to bring it on as I’m not a ‘typical’ candidate for GD, but sometimes it’s the luck of the draw.

        It’s a been pain in the ass at times, but thankfully it’s been manageable for me with diet. On the upside of it we get extra scans and I’ve put on no weight! Good luck, I hope your results come back clear, if it doesn’t there is a lot of support out there and just remember it’s not something that you have caused.

        • I have a genetic thing which puts me at higher risk of getting it. I’ve gone out of my way to educate myself – made appointments with dietitians and Diabetes Educators. The Diabetes Educator kept saying to me, “WHEN you get Gestational Diabetes” and I said, “I’m not getting it… so you can stop saying when.” Followed by a laugh, but I was hopeful/serious/optimistic.

          I haven’t put on any weight yet this pregnancy, and I’m going in for the test early – I did it at 12 weeks and will now do it at 24/25 weeks again. My results were perfect at 12 weeks.

          The Diabetes Educator said to me, “When you get GD, just remember it’s not something you’ve done…” which is comforting… but I know there will be part of me that blames myself. I think it’s natural.

          Did you have any symptoms or anything?

          • No symptoms, so it was a shock. I have had auto immune issues in the past so that could have pushed things in that direction.

            Not to worry, I’m healthy, the bean is healthy (but big which could be genetic Father in law was a whopping 10lbs 7 at birth!) so it’s all good.

            Fingers crossed you get another all clear and can relax through the rest of your pregnancy x

  7. I have recently started reading your blog and I am enjoying it a lot. So wanted to say thanks! And boo to the insomnia, I had that with my two pregnancies and now (not preg) have started it again and I get so excited when I wake up at 7am and its already light and I have a little yay me moment!

  8. No honey, it was you, the computer and me up at that time. Courtesy of my 18 month old…..

    K xx

  9. I had a good morning in comparison to normal. I have a one year old who doesn’t sleep. I was up briefly at 130 to resettle then 5. Up for the day at 6 but managed to cuddle my way to 7 (yay for co sleeping!) I’m usually up every 2 hours so 3 or 4 in a row is heroic in my department.

    Pregnancy insomnia. Preparing mummies for newborn sleepless nights since the year dot.

    My midwife informed my chocolate is in fact the new sixth food group so indulge.

  10. I have the insomnia too and im up every 2hrs to pee anyway. 3am-4am is the worst for me. I also didnt crave sweets until later. I haven’t eaten many but I jave just failed my diabetes test last week and got to do the long one this week. Its not fun. Fingers crossed I passed that one but I have a feeling I wont (mine is from pcos not diet – shouldve indulged in sweets afterall if this was going to happen anyway).

  11. I had the worst insomnia with my 3rd pregnancy, I was up most of the night. I have however just discovered the bonus of this. I now have a 10 day old and I am getting way more sleep than I did while pregnant!!

    • That’s hilarious Sheryn, everyone’s been telling me my preggo insomnia is just going to prepare me for having a baby (worst thing ever you can say to an exhausted pregnant woman, by the way) but this gives me hope!! Maybe I’ll sleep better when he’s born!

  12. We all woke here at 5 while traveling through Cambodia! While pregnant Woody would wake me at 333 every morning and then feed at that time when he was born!

  13. Oh I am exactly the same!! I’m 20 weeks now, and have only slept through the night 6 times. 3 of them were this week though, so I feel like a new woman!!! My hot tip is to really pay attention to your diet (if you feel well enough to). Eat clean, sleep better. Having said that, it was 20 weeks before I stopped being a carb monstor and could think about not eating sugar without crying 😉

    • My diet has been pretty clean {especially when I had terrible morning sickness and ate very little} but nothing seems to change it. I think going to be later definitely helps.

      Lets hope there is more sleep in our near future.

  14. Ah I’m newly pregnant and on top of not being able to take my melatonin and distractions in bed such as my laptop, I completely understand the sleep deprivation! I also have the teenage skin problem 🙂

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