Rough Night

Over the last few weeks, I've developed a routine for getting through the night. These last days of pregnancy make sleep a difficult task, and every night at home brings with it the inevitable dance that is my attempt to slumber peacefully. It's quite the battle.

I can sleep in one of two positions- on my left side or on my right side. That's it, and I don't much care for either of them. But once I find something remotely comfortable, I drift on into dreamland. Unfortunately, dreamland is often an unpleasant place.

I don't know if it's my hormones, my overactive imagination, or both, but I've been having the most awful nightmares lately. Any fear, frustration, anger or jealousy I feel tends to manifest itself in my dreams, but with much more dramatic flair. I wake up in the middle of the night wondering what happened and feeling painfully overheated.

After I turn on the ceiling fan, which cranks out an awful grinding sound for reasons I can't deduce, I fall asleep again only to wake up in the wee hours of the morning from another bad dream.

Perhaps it's my body's way of getting me used to waking up throughout the night with a baby, but these nightmares suck. I remember having peaceful nights of sleep during which I drifted off (on my stomach) and didn't wake up until the next morning, feeling rested and content. Are those days over for good?

If so, I know it will all be worth it. I'm much more willing to wake up for a baby than some stupid nightmare. Hopefully, the two hours of sleep that I'll be getting each night once the baby is here will include visions of sugarplums dancing in my head instead of dungeons that look like grocery stores. (Yeah...that's the kind of stuff I come up with.)