And the sleep (issue) goes on......
As a matter of fact, I managed to sleep straight through until 4.45am this morning before my bladder forced me to wake and rise (and subsequently lie there in the dark waiting for Karen's alarm to go off at 6.30am so that I could "justify" getting up - boring!). Saturday night I slept from about midnight until 3am, then was awake until about 5.15am, then slept for another hour and a half before waking for good. So by my current standards, I actually had an excellent night's sleep, at around 5 1/2hrs in one stretch. I think that I really ought to try and go to bed/sleep earlier in the evening than 11ish, to see if that will help me get any more sleep overall. Problem is, Karen doesn't come to bed until at least 11pm, which is at best mildly disturbing, and at worst, can wake me up again completely. Added to which, during the week, she often doesn't get in from working/commuting until 8.30-9pm, so if I head up to bed at around 9.30pm (which is often what I feel like doing), then we hardly see each other at all. Ugh. At least I have the luxury, now that I'm not working any more, of being able to try and take daytime naps, which often feel like a much better quality of sleep anyway, even if they're only short ones. Probably quite a lot to do with it just being me in the bed!
Other news: we met the fourth midwife in our community group of five yesterday, when she came for our 34 week antenatal appointment. Another very chatty one, and likeable, so we've just got one more to meet at our 36 weeker, and then we've met the whole team. We're incredibly lucky to fall under a community team, simply by virtue of where we live. They do all the antenatal care, are with you for delivery (hospital or home - your choice), and then do follow-up post-natal visits as well. If we hadn't been able to benefit from this system, I would have wanted to use a doula, but it simply hasn't felt necessary. It feels like we are getting doula services, but for free! We still like our "named" midwife, Lisbeth, the best, so we are hoping that she will be available when I actually go into labour. She's great fun (and more than a little bit mad), but pretty no-nonsense (whilst respecting of our views), so I feel that the whole thing would go well with her around, and she would keep us going if things were dragging on.
Anyway, all was normal with the usual checks, although it was a struggle for her to find the heartbeat as Pip was moving around so much! S/he was head down at that point, but is most certainly not engaged - there has been much in the way of acrobatics in the last week or so, and I've finally been able to start identifying body parts by feel, but they are always in different places every time I try!
I've also realised that I have definitely been experiencing Braxton Hicks contractions - my belly quite often feels very tight, but because there was no real "sensation", I wasn't sure if that was what was going on or not. However, last night, there was a definite different feeling to accompany the tightness; slightly draggy/achey/crampy, a bit like a low period pain. Rather uncomfortable, but good to know that my uterus is getting ready!
I am suffering from pretty serious back pain now - my lower back has always been a problem area, and obviously pregnancy and the even-greater-than-normal curvature of my spine has exacerbated the issue for some time. Obviously I'm used to suffering a degree of pain from it much of the time, and have my coping strategies, but sadly these don't seem to be helping much now. It HURTS! I'm just trying to be really careful with my posture, change position regularly, and do my yoga/stretching exercises to stop it getting even worse. I saw my chiropractor last week, and although the treatment helped temporarily, and I'm a lot less stiff than I was before seeing her, I'm now just really sore all the time. I don't suppose that there's going to be an awful lot I can do about it now - probably stuck with it until the baby arrives and I can finally straighten up again.
As a matter of fact, I managed to sleep straight through until 4.45am this morning before my bladder forced me to wake and rise (and subsequently lie there in the dark waiting for Karen's alarm to go off at 6.30am so that I could "justify" getting up - boring!). Saturday night I slept from about midnight until 3am, then was awake until about 5.15am, then slept for another hour and a half before waking for good. So by my current standards, I actually had an excellent night's sleep, at around 5 1/2hrs in one stretch. I think that I really ought to try and go to bed/sleep earlier in the evening than 11ish, to see if that will help me get any more sleep overall. Problem is, Karen doesn't come to bed until at least 11pm, which is at best mildly disturbing, and at worst, can wake me up again completely. Added to which, during the week, she often doesn't get in from working/commuting until 8.30-9pm, so if I head up to bed at around 9.30pm (which is often what I feel like doing), then we hardly see each other at all. Ugh. At least I have the luxury, now that I'm not working any more, of being able to try and take daytime naps, which often feel like a much better quality of sleep anyway, even if they're only short ones. Probably quite a lot to do with it just being me in the bed!
Other news: we met the fourth midwife in our community group of five yesterday, when she came for our 34 week antenatal appointment. Another very chatty one, and likeable, so we've just got one more to meet at our 36 weeker, and then we've met the whole team. We're incredibly lucky to fall under a community team, simply by virtue of where we live. They do all the antenatal care, are with you for delivery (hospital or home - your choice), and then do follow-up post-natal visits as well. If we hadn't been able to benefit from this system, I would have wanted to use a doula, but it simply hasn't felt necessary. It feels like we are getting doula services, but for free! We still like our "named" midwife, Lisbeth, the best, so we are hoping that she will be available when I actually go into labour. She's great fun (and more than a little bit mad), but pretty no-nonsense (whilst respecting of our views), so I feel that the whole thing would go well with her around, and she would keep us going if things were dragging on.
Anyway, all was normal with the usual checks, although it was a struggle for her to find the heartbeat as Pip was moving around so much! S/he was head down at that point, but is most certainly not engaged - there has been much in the way of acrobatics in the last week or so, and I've finally been able to start identifying body parts by feel, but they are always in different places every time I try!
I've also realised that I have definitely been experiencing Braxton Hicks contractions - my belly quite often feels very tight, but because there was no real "sensation", I wasn't sure if that was what was going on or not. However, last night, there was a definite different feeling to accompany the tightness; slightly draggy/achey/crampy, a bit like a low period pain. Rather uncomfortable, but good to know that my uterus is getting ready!
I am suffering from pretty serious back pain now - my lower back has always been a problem area, and obviously pregnancy and the even-greater-than-normal curvature of my spine has exacerbated the issue for some time. Obviously I'm used to suffering a degree of pain from it much of the time, and have my coping strategies, but sadly these don't seem to be helping much now. It HURTS! I'm just trying to be really careful with my posture, change position regularly, and do my yoga/stretching exercises to stop it getting even worse. I saw my chiropractor last week, and although the treatment helped temporarily, and I'm a lot less stiff than I was before seeing her, I'm now just really sore all the time. I don't suppose that there's going to be an awful lot I can do about it now - probably stuck with it until the baby arrives and I can finally straighten up again.
posted by Tamsin at 8:23 am
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