The Kirk's - Boys-R-Us!

Pregnancy Insomnia

It's Like A Parent Prep Course Taught By an Evil Bully!

Seriously! There is nothing worse than being exhausted, sore, aching, uncomfortable and restless only to fall asleep and 3 short short hours later wake up and NOT be able to return to dream land!

Sleep - Come Back!!!
I know I've never been 'this pregnant' before - since Kaiden was born at 37w3d, and I'm currently 38w5d - but in case you're wondering YES those extra days make a HUGE difference! I woke up around 3:30 to make my nightly visit to the commode, I was SO sleepy I didn't even open my eyes while walking to the toilet, and I only opened one to make sure I was close to my bed when I returned. Yes, that's right, I have taken this nightly walk so many times that I can perform all the duties involved from a semiconscious state - I should set up a camera and make it BIG on youtube. . . . . I digress. . . . . So I return to bed, the sheets still warm from when I got out, but once getting comfortable and ready to sleep - I start to notice that I am a little too warm. Well OK that's an understatement, I went from comfortable slumber - to bare feet on cold tile floor and can't wait to get under the covers - to I'm so HOT I feel like I'm SUFFOCATING under these blankets - to WHY isn't the fan on & WHY is the cat laying so close with all his HOT cat fur insulating my already roasting body!?

Let's Calm Down and Change Positions
So I thought, OK lets flip over, maybe if I face the other way and stick a foot out of the bottom of the sheets, I'll find my happy sleepy time. OR maybe the answer is to prop myself up just a little more, since my nose is a little stuffy, maybe I should use a little vapor rub too, and even though there isn't a SINGLE light on in the house, maybe my black-out eye pillow will help convince my eyes to want to stay shut. Well, yeah, obviously NONE of that was the ticket because here I am at 6:00am and I've already read over the NCAA Tournament brackets, checked snopes for an email I got, enjoyed a bowl of cereal, plugged in both cameras for tomorrow and fed the cats!

Desperation and The Sleep Equation
Pretty much anyone who has ever had to wake up to an alarm knows EXACTLY what sleep equation I'm referring to!! It goes something like this: My alarm is set for X (fill in your set alarm time here) and right now its Y (fill in actual wake-up time here) that means if I get to sleep RIGHT now I have the sum of X-Y of sleep left! The problem with knowing this formula/equation is that it is constantly changing - b/c time is in constant motion - hence added stress to 'hurry up and go back to sleep'. Which I don't know if you've tried it, but trying to hurry sleep - without the help of some sedative - doesn't actually work. In fact it generally seems to have the opposite effect. In addition to above equation is of course the compounding and very REAL fact that "Tomorrow at THIS time. . . ." fill in with various check-in and pre-op procedures I'll be receiving - which serves to remind me that after tomorrow I will have a newborn, meaning that technically this is one of my last nights of 'good sleep' before I'll have to wake up every 2 to 3 hours to feed said newborn - which brings me back to the addition of stress on the sleep equation! YEAH it's not a pretty picture - not to mention the pillows under my eyes and the black circles that support the pillows.

Back to Bed
All right - well endless sleep deprived rant over - it is starting to rain and with cereal and hot tea in my belly I am finally starting to feel sleepy (I just yawned) so wish me luck IF I fall back to sleep right now I may be able to get another hour and a half before Kaiden wakes up! That would bring my total sleep to 4.5 hours - that's almost half of what I USED to get! woo hoo!

EDIT: My Partner in Wakefulness
So my dear friend Beckie's comment made me realize that I hadn't mentioned that Dave was awake by 5:00 - and since he normally leaves for the gym by 6:00 he just decided to get up with me and come down stairs so the two of us had our cereal together and discussed our favorite teams for the tournament. Although from 3:30 until 5:00 when I finally got out of bed - YES I laid there sarcastically thinking - well isn't it nice that daddy gets to get a good night sleep every night while I toss and turn with this kicking ninja in my belly! Although even as I type it as excited as I am to meet little Pierce in person tomorrow I am also sad that our 'special moments' are coming to an end. I LOVED being pregnant, I LOVE feeling the baby move, have hiccups, adjust position - all of it - and the thought that it is all coming to an end in a few short hours does make me just a little teary. But that could be the lack of sleep and rush of adrenaline at what lies ahead!