Sleep in the Third Trimester
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The third trimester is tricky. You’ve been pregnant for so long that you feel like you’ve finally gotten the hang of it, but by the same token you’re so close to finishing up with the pregnancy that you probably have an urgency to get the baby out. When I was in my third trimester my body really started to rebel against me: my blood pressure sky-rocketed and I got so huge that I didn’t even fit into some of my maternity clothes anymore. Now that’s annoying.
One of the biggest issues I had in the third trimester with both my babies was sleep. Sleeping was hard for a few reasons:
1. I had horrible acid reflux, which is something I had never experienced in my life before pregnancy.
2. I had to pee two or three times during the night.
3. I had anxiety dreams about having the baby and then leaving him or her somewhere like the store or in the car.
4. I was huge. There is only so much room in a bed for a husband and wife when the wife has a humongous, kicking belly.
There were a few things I did that helped me to sleep. For the acid reflux, I figured out what foods made it really bad and then avoided those foods after lunchtime. That meant my beloved spaghetti had to become a lunch meal instead of a dinner. I limited my liquids an hour or so before bedtime so I wouldn’t have to pee every couple of hours. I also made a conscious effort to calm my mind before going to bed in an attempt to avoid nightmares. For me it was praying that I would be the best mommy possible, but for other women it might just be breathing exercises or something like that.
As far as my hugeness went, there was nothing much I could do about that. If I was particularly restless my husband would go sleep in the guest room, which actually helped me quite a bit because I could sprawl out in our bed. After all, I took up a lot of room.
Cherish your sleep in the third trimester because you need your rest, and because sleep will be interrupted like crazy after your baby is born. The good news is that every single sleep problem dissolved the second my baby was born…except for the wacky dreams, of course, because I’ll always have those anxiety dreams about my babies. It’s an occupational hazard, I think.
Amybee says...
Tell me about it! This is my 3rd pregnancy and I’ve got busy, older boys to take care of…and my sleep is terrible lately. One thing I am lucky to be able to do this time (vs 8 yrs ago, with my 2nd) is that when I am a zombie in the morning, I often lie back down for an hr or so after my kids get on the bus, and then start my day- Sometimes it really takes the edge off of my fatigue. How do we women do it?!
Science-mom says...
I had to bedrest on my 3rd trimester but I still couldn`t enough sleep. Heavy with twins, I couldn`t seem to find a position comfortable enough for sleeping. Lying on my side with a pillow between the legs help. Another problem was the constant hunger - couldn`t eat much with such a big tummy.
Yes, the discomfort disappeared right after birth to be replaced by a different kind of sleeping problems…