Pregnancy insomnia getting you down—or rather, keeping you up?

 It’s 1:30 in the morning and I’m up. Lately that hasn’t been too unusual. But the thing that’s really bothering me is that I’m hungry. And I can’t eat.

At 8am tomorrow (today?) I am taking my glucose test. If you’ve been through this yourself, you know it’s the often dreaded 10 hours of fasting, followed by having your blood drawn, a bottle of flat, syrupy sweet “drink,” and two hours of waiting interspersed with two more blood draws. And all this with no food.

Glucose test expectations vs. reality

My first time around, I’d heard a lot of horror stories. Why do moms like to freak other soon-to-be moms out so much? We’re like high school seniors working over an incoming freshman class. Anyway, the horror stories had me picturing a putrid sweet drink that would make me want to puke. Hours of waiting in the doctor’s office. Fainting spells from lack of food, followed by needles.

As it turned out, I don’t think the drink is that bad. Sure I’d never order it off the menu, but it’s just super sweet. I swear it’s the syrup they make orange soda out of before they add the CO2. So I actually made it through the first time and all the others with no puking, fainting, or other bad experiences. I even got some quality reading done during the wait.

But this time is promising to be different, and not in a good way. Mostly because of the pregnancy insomnia.

After dinner, which we eat early in our house, I felt a little tired. In the last few weeks, I have gotten into the habit of taking a nap in the evening when the kids go to bed so I can be up to greet my husband when he gets off work around midnight or so. Tonight I had intended to sleep through since the less time I spent awake, the less time I spent wanting to eat.

But Murphy’s Law strikes again. My sleep was restless and full of weird dreams. I woke at 11:30pm and couldn’t do more than drift until I finally gave up about half an hour ago. And I’m hungry. My 10pm eating cutoff has come and gone.  At this rate, I may be up the rest of the night. Pregnancy makes me feel both tired and unable to sleep much. So add that to the gnawing in my gut and I don’t see how I’m going to put myself under. I think I’m just hungry because I know I can’t eat. I have a problem with authority.

Ways to Combat Pregnancy Insomnia

Normally, I have a few strategies to get me sleepy when my growing belly and active baby want to keep the party going into the wee hours. Here’s a few of my favorites if you’re looking for something more natural than Ambien to get you to sleep:

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Decaf Green tea

A hot cup of this while snuggled in your bed can help relax your body and ease you toward sleep. It’s also full of antioxidants and good for digestion so you can’t go wrong. (Though none for me tonight).

No Screens

As tempting as it is to waste a little time with your Facebook feed or check emails, this is always a bad idea. They say that the light from electronic devices stimulates your brain, making it hard to go to sleep. So no TV, iPad, or phone when you’re trying to sleep.

Reading a book

Make sure it’s a printed book since your Kindle counts as an electronic device. Oftentimes, I leave the lights off and read by penlight (flashbacks of reading past bedtime as a kid). The dim light as well as the book lulls by mind and gives me something to think about when I finally go to sleep.

I pick my dream

I know it sounds weird but hear me out. Left to its own devices, my mind will go chasing off after every thought, idea, addition to the To Do list, and pretty much anything it can wrap itself around rather than sleep. So to curtail the never ending thinking, I pick a dream. Maybe it’s just playing back a scene from a book I read recently or something I saw on TV. Try something bland and not too interesting though, so you can drift off rather than create an epic saga.

Listen to something

Nature sounds, a podcast of someone who has a relaxing voice, or classical music would all work to combat pregnancy insomnia. I like Bach’s Nocturnes myself. But Amazon Music has some good variety if you prefer some smooth jazz or 80s music (no judgement).                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        So far, I’ve been striking out and I’ve obviously broken the cardinal rule by sitting here on my laptop. But hopefully a few of these ideas might send you off to sleep on a rough night. As for me, I’m going to crack open a book and contemplate what I’m going to eat when this fast is over.

 

But if you are still awake… any good pregnancy insomnia busting tips from one mom to another? Let me know in the comments. Thanks!

 

*UPDATE: I survived the test and the fast. I happily gorged on a roast beef sub afterward. And the test came back negative so no gestational diabetes here.

 

Looking for more pregnancy tips and motherhood encouragement? Check out these posts:

Life Will Never Be the Same Again

What I’m Going to Miss Most About Breastfeeding

 

[Disclaimer: I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for me to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. This post contains affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links, I’ll receive a commission, at no additional cost to you. All opinions are my own and I never recommend anything I haven’t used myself and loved.]