SLEEPING AT NIGHT..............

[steph01]

got to be the hardest thing, have to keep turning from side to side, must make baby dizzy, also legs go dead. never get a full nights sleep always getting up to use the loo at least once a night.

Get yourself a DreamGenii, they're frickin' magic according to any of my friends who have used them.

Second getting a DreamGenii, and a hot water bottle for ur legs, really helps

DreamGenie does help, but doesn't prevent rehearsals for one woman show of The Twelve Dancing Princesses taking place in my uterus.

I'm finding sleeping hard too. Takes me ages to roll over and makes me wakes up so it takes ages to get back to sleep. Also going to the loo probably twice a night and finding to hard to get back to sleep. Feel awful during the day. The only thing that helps me is to read for a bit and then I can eventually get back to sleep but I only end up with 5-6 hours a night at the moment.

Ditto!!!

I'm so restless. I can't sit on the sofa because I get restless legs, I can't read in bed because I get restless legs, baby pushes down on organs and I just feel tense and anxious, I can't sleep because I'm rolling over and over all night, going to the loo, waking up anxious with mind buzzing... I'm only 29 weeks!! My poor DP :)

Since I've got myself a body pillow from Argos (standard body length straight one) things have definitely improved but it aint great :(

Shouldn't moan. It is a miracle of nature after all and I know it'll all be worth it in the end.

Agree with the others regarding the pregnancy pillow! A complete lifesaver!

I don't have the dream genie, I have the Summer maternity/nursing pillow (doubles as a breastfeeding pillow and nest for the baby after you've had it).

does that mean my five loo trips a night is extreme?!

I've had awful trouble with sleeping this time around (pregnancy 3) - very depressing as with the other two I had the best sleeps ever . Some of the things that seem to have been helpful for restless legs include showering my lower legs with very cold water last thing at night. This seems to prevent them getting restless and as they gradually warm up, I am relaxing into sleep. It's just a bit of a faff! Using Badger Balm sore muscle rub also seemed to help - quite warming and spicy. I don't drink anything caffeinated after teatime (no idea if this really helps as I don't normally feel the effects of caffeine - it just seems to be a logical thing to do). Also, I went for ages restricting the amount I drink in the evening, stressing about peeing all through the night, but found that regardless of whether I drank or not, I still got up at least once to pee and if I had drunk very little, feeling thirsty kept me awake. Now I drink if I'm thirsty and have a medium sized mug of warm milk before bed - seems to sort the thirst and prevent me getting hungry in the night. I have become slightly sleep obsessed to be honest... Roll on Oct 6th (c-section booked!!) MPD

I'm in, only 6 weeks but can't figure out if tiredness in day is just because I'm pg or (more likely) due to 2-3 loo trips, struggling to get back to sleep after, vivid dreams when I am asleep and DH getting up at 4.30am to get ready for work...

Can't wait to go through worsening stages over the next 34 weeks!

Dreamgenii fan here too. Got it at 12weeks after thinking "gosh, that's expensive" and "humm, maybe weeing 4-8 times a night is just normal for pg" and "maybe this is just natural tiredness"...
Yes, they are expensive, but, I now get up at most twice a night to wee (23wks and usually because LOs punching my bladder/I have a cat asleep on it) and, whilst I'm still fairly tired dreamgenii had made up for the expense within 48hours and means I'm not so exhausted constantly I wanted to cry...
...now it's just other things like vommiting out my nose, or taking my cats to the vets that makes me cry like a baby...
Even if you don't get a dreamgenii then try and make sure you sleep in your left. The dead legs thing can be a sign that baby/gubbins is pressing down on your vessles and reducing the bloodflow to your legs. Especially watch for spells of being dizzy when you do wake if this is happening, and lie on your left for a few minutes. You don't want to be feinting on your way for a much-needed wee!
Having water by the bed is a must. Most of the time, if you're waking up hungry, it's due to dehydration, but keep some snackage there too just because you never can tell when you need a quick mini-mars bar snack (only time of day LO will let me eat sweets).
Vivid dreaming is also extreemly common alwaysanauntie mainly bacause your sleep is more disrupted, therefor you're more likely to remember them. If you're having nightmares, again, very common. Just try to ignore them and wait for the copious sex dreams you'll get a bit later on...
For restless legs, not had it much, but I've noticed swimming twice a week's almost elimitated it. Maybe taking a walk around the block in the evenings will help? Certainly helps with digestion, so might be worth a go for those with nausea aswell?