March 19, 2006 - Pregnancy Blog

Sleeping... is... difficult.

No, I'm not speaking about insomnia (a problem I think I've finally licked, thank goodness), but rather the challenge of finding comfort in my 8th month of pregnancy.  The last couple of nights were a mini-nightmare for both Rob and myself: I thought I was having a heart attack, he was getting attacked from worry.

It started a couple of nights ago... I had just finished dinner (a nice, big bowl of one of my comfort foods, arroz caldo, with chopped spring onions and toasted garlic) and was watching TV in my semi-lying down position on the recliner.  I then started to feel a tightness in my chest, one I immediately attributed to a food allergy.  I didn't link my body's position to anything else, and I had felt this kind of tightness before after eating certain foods (I also thought that maybe my afternoon swim might have had something to do with it).  An antihistamine would usually do the trick, so I took a couple of Benadryl.  However, this time, the tightness didn't go away.  It stayed, and it bothered me.  The tightness extended up to my throat (and I'm very, very paranoid about that part of my anatomy).  I felt like I couldn't breathe.  I tried all sorts of sleep positions, then decided to sit up for a while.  I also took a couple of Tylenol to relieve the pain.  Finally, after many hours of figuring it out, I ended up falling asleep in this sitting position, almost upright, comfortable enough, propped up against a couple of pillows.  I woke up the next morning feeling normal again, wondering what the heck that night was about.  We went about our day (househunting!), and just lounged around.  Rob wasn't feeling so well anyway (stomach trouble), so we were housebound.

Since I didn't swim... didn't eat anything that would trigger an allergic reaction, I thought I would be pain free this next night.  NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!  I lay down on my side as I normally would, and there it started.  The tightness in my chest!  The tightness in my throat!  I started to panic again... I sat up, started rubbing my chest... I started then texting my doctor to try and figure out what was wrong.  She said it sounds like gastroesophageal reflux (GERD), that as the baby grows larger, she pushes acid up, making this mommy feel very uncomfortable.  She then recommended a stronger antacid to counteract  the pain, as well as suggested that I eat an early, small dinner.  I started to cry from the frustration of this... this is probably the most uncomfortable I've been since my pregnancy began (save for the bouts of morning sickness).  Rob was up with me, handing me some tissues and keeping my spirits high.  So we then started to figure out a most comfy, upright sleep position.  We found one... of course my coccyx was a mess (my tailbone felt a bit of pain from sitting all night), and that was that.  After some time, the heartburn feeling left, and I was feeling better... I was able to sleep quite fitfully.  We might have to bring the recliner upstairs to the bedroom for my sleeping now.

At this time I'm 31 weeks and 2 days pregnant, with around 7-9 weeks left before the big birthday.  As much as I will love this little girl from the moment I lay eyes on her, I really would like the pregnancy discomfort to end.  It would be nice to have my body back to myself.