how can I get thro labour on so little sleep?!!

[MissChief]

help - any reassurance appreciated! have had bad insomnia thro most of pregnancy, now overdue by a few days and this last week have had no more than 1-2 hrs a night, though have rested in bed for 12 hrs or so. Last time, got really exhausted by end of sim pregnancy and now dreading same scenario again being too knackered to get thro it all/push. any advice? I'm hoping for a home birth too so won't be using epidural or anything probably unless I get taken in.

[MissChief]

sorry, typo - not rested 12 hrs or so per night (I wish..) probably spend 8 hrs over nigth on & off and try to fit in nap if I can in afternoon - still don't always manage to sleep though, brain seems to be so hyper..

[MissChief]

bump, anyone - soothing words of wisdom for a desperate & very expectant mum?!!

[mumtosomeone]

hi!
when are you do?
With my last one I had had a bit of a restless time. DH and i had argued the night before and not slept much! But i got through it! Delivered a 9lb 15 boy 11 days early, so wasnt expecting him to arrive!!!

[MissChief]

aah - someone's there! hello, again. I was due last w/e so few days over now, should stop feeling sorry for myself, I guess and try to keep busy..

[MissChief]

meant to say, wow - big baby, esp for an early one!

[mumtosomeone]

just rest as much as you can.

[franke]

Misschief - I dont have much advice but if you manage to get your homebirth you'll probably feel much more relaxed than in an unfamiliar hospital environment; it should be less stressful. Also hopefully your second labour may be a bit shorter than first time around. Agree you should just veg out as much as poss now and good luck

[MissChief]

will try to rest - wd help if dh got up - he says he needs lots of sleep so not tired for labour !!

[franke]

Oh please, the poor lamb, it must be such a worry for him Go and turf him out and go back to bed yourself.

[mumtosomeone]

I know when dh was on pertinity leave he seemed to get more lie ins than me!!!!

[lalaa]

i didn't have much sleep for the last eight weeks of my preg due to back pain. i was going to suggest trying positions in labour which help to keep everything moving along (like standing up, kneeling, on all fours - using gravity to your advantage!). and just keep trying to get rest in when you can in the meantime. lots of sympathy. good luck.

[Cha]

I really sympathise, misschief. Both my pregnancies involved large amounts of burning vomit in the back of the throat 24/7 ie heartburn (and virtually from the day of conception too!), so sleep was difficult to say the least. Am also a bit of an insomniac on top of it all. Both my labours were extremely long - 3 days and 2 days (mostly at night so no sleep to speak of). BUT you can do it. Honest you can. It is exhausting but I produced two healthy babies at the end of it.
I can give you some of my tips for insomnia if you like, but my ultimate message is that although you FEEL you can't go on and panic about how little sleep you're getting (god, do I know that feeling) it really is surprising how little sleep you can function on. Really. Trick is not to worry about it. Easier said than done, I know, but I read somewhere that 85% of insomnia is caused by people worrying about not sleeping. If you can try not to worry, and tell yourself daily how well, comparitively, you are functioning on the little sleep you do get, hopefully you can feel less panicky about the whole thing and the vicious circle will be broken?
Anyway - top tips.
If you are worrying about something in the night (probably about how little sleep you're getting),imagine the worry is on a CD. Take it off, put it in its case and put another one on - the CD of the last good holiday / party / night out you went on. Thinking about something else will help you switch off.
Tell yourself that if you are not asleep in 10 mins, you are going to get up. Get up, take a blanket and go and lie on your sofa (or the spare bed if you have one). Changing where you sleep helps - I often get a few hours on the sofa when I have insomnia, and I usually fall asleep on it in minutes!
If all else fails, go through, scene by scene, your favourite film, book, television series - or even something you have just seen/read. You have to play it in your head as it actually happens ie try and remember all the details of the dialogue, the scenery, what the characters wear and what they do. If you forget a scene, rewind back to where it comes in and play the whole thing back again. This gets your mind concentrating on something else other than what is keeping you awake and before you know it, you are asleep!

Anyway, hope that helps. Just remember, whatever happens, you can do it. Buy some glucose sweets for the labour - they help (psychologically if nothing else) when you feel like you are flagging. Good luck!

[marne]

I was like this when pg with dd, couldnt wait to have her so i could get back to being able to sleep. The week before i spent evry nigh sat up, feeling uncomfortable and not geting any sleep. When it gets to the big day you just seem to find the energy to do what you have too, i can remember when in labour and high on gass and air telling evryone to f*ck off and let me go too sleep, but i managed in the end after 8 hours of pushing. Im sure you will be fine, keep your energy levels up by eating healthy snacks.

[Lonelymum]

Poor you! I rememeber feeling the same way as you during my 4 pgs. I spent most of the time in a perpetual state of exhaustion, no matter how much sleep I got, plus I had the dreaded reflux so I found getting to sleep hard at night. Plus, towards the end, you are so heavy and worn out that no amount of sleep feel like enough. With one of my pgs, I had a cold towards the end and I can remember wailing to dh that I would never be able to undergo labour and push the baby out.

But, my only words of wisdom are these: somehow, you will find the energy. I know I did. I think your body goes into overdrive TBH to get you through it. I don't even remember the cold being an issue when it came to labour!

Good luck with it. Hope you get the drug free, home birth you want. Look forward to reading your birth announcement soon!

[MissChief]

thanks for all your lovely replies - good to know I'm not alone, IFYKWIM! Still hanging on in there, anyway -strong BH over w/e again kept thinking early labour but not to be!

[Flossam]

MissCheif, Your body is a very clever thing. Mine kept trying to put me to sleep several times in the days leading up to my labour, however DP and his friend had other ideas . I had about six hours sleep before my waters broke at six in the morning. Now my labour (contractions wise) didn't start until the late afternoon and I had DS that night, so I was lucky. But I found that the adrenaline and hormones were flooding around and I was far to prepped up to sleep. Try not to worry about it, IMO things usually really do have a way of working out for themselves. Good luck to you, hope baby dosen't keep you waiting too much longer!

[Jockey]

I can sympathise MissChief. I was totally exhausted by the time my third came as I had just moved house and was sleepig in a bed with two little ones! Luckily, the labour was a very short one and the pain drove me to do what I needed to do - I completely forgot how tired I was.

Now suffering insomnia again with the 4th and I agree that worrying about not getting enough sleep is the worst thing. Somehow our bodies will cope with it. Wishing you all the best.