Nightmares

Time to add a new complication to the mix. I cannot sleep. Up to this point in the pregnancy, sleep was not really an issue because I have been so darn exhausted. Well, now I am still exhausted, and I start fantasizing about climbing into bed around 8:30. However, that is what sleep has become, an absolute fantasy.

Here is the routine. I get ready for bed around 9:30. This entails putting on Brent's Reebok Dryfit sleeveless Colts shirt (God, I hope he never wore that in public), filling a waterbottle of ice water, taking my iron supplement, prenatal vitamin and fish oil capsules and then hoisting myself into the bed. This is no small task and sometimes requires Brent's assistance.

Then I begin the battle with my pillows. Currently I have a tempurpedic pillow, a body pillow and a cheapie king size pillow, as well as my schmata (which is my 15 year old stuffed white cougar that I simply cannot live without). Add to the mix a comforter, sheets, and well, Brent and the bed has become very complicated. I usually spend about 10 minutes struggling around with the pillows trying to find a position that increases my odds of falling asleep within two hours or so. This position has to be just right, so that I am not putting pressure on my belly, so that I am not laying on my vena cava, and I have my head and knees supported. Very tricky business.

By this time, I am about 142 degrees, sweating and cursing and no closer to sleep than if I had just downed a Red Bull.

Have I mentioned that my allergies have never been worse? Oh, well let's add that little fun fact to the equation. I can't breathe through my nose because they are both completely clogged. I also can't breathe through my mouth because I am wheezing. Maybe I need to grow some gills. And, Baby B has decided that my ribs and lungs are lovely place to take refuge, so my breathing is compressed from south of the border as well. So, naturally, I start to panic. Every night. And then begins the agonizing about whether I should take something to help. I know that Benadryl is considered safe for pregnancy, but I doubt I should be taking it very frequently. And I know that my Albuterol inhaler is also considered safe, but I also hesitate before using that. So then I toss and turn and worry and I'm sure you can imagine that all that anxiety does wonders for my level of relaxation.

Oh! And my belly itches. Unbearably. Like it has poison ivy all over it. Then I scratch it (with my gloriously long nails, thanks to the prenatal vitamins) and it hurts. This has got to be some cruel joke right?

Miracle of miracles, somehow I fall asleep, usually about 2 hours after I actually hit the sheets. And then, about 2-3 hours later, I wake up. Because I have to pee. And then I have to do the whole routine all over again.