the sleep challenge

These days, sleeping well is a luxury. Since I've been side sleeping for awhile now I'm somewhat used to it but as my belly gets bigger, side sleeping brings on other new challenges. For example, the leg that falls asleep. You would think that since I'm already technically sleeping, that this wouldn't be a problem. You'd be wrong. Whatever side I'm sleeping on, that leg (the one on the bottom) will fall asleep after awhile. I suppose my heavy belly cuts of circulation to that leg and then it starts to ache and throb. Of course, the pain wakes me up...and once I'm up I have to pee. When I'm back in bed I switch sides to relieve the pain in my leg. But after about an hour of sleeping on the other side, all I've done is shared the wealth because now my other leg is asleep. Repeat process.

Recently, the "sleeping leg" has also started to morph into calf cramps. Now, I've heard about leg cramps from everyone. Apparently, it's very common in pregnancy. I've only had a couple of instances where my calf has started to cramp up but I've caught it in time to stretch it out. I'm noticing it a lot more as I get bigger. So, I've taken to stretching every night before bed for fear of a MAJOR charley horse (where does this term come from anyway?) in the middle of the night. So far, so good.

Then, there's the baby that keeps me from sleeping. He's bigger and definitely stronger now, which is great! But it also means he moves and kicks really hard when I'm lying on my side trying to sleep. Sometimes it's so uncomfortable that I pretty much beg him to stop and just "let mommy sleep!"

But I guess that's just a preview of things to come!