"To sleep, perchance to dream"

Those words ring differently to me than ol' Hamlet intended them. Oh, how I wish for sleep - blissful, free of pain, uninterrupted sleep!

My first issue:
Since the very beginning of my pregnancy, I've been getting up during the night to relieve my bladder. I used to fight it, thinking I could go back to sleep and deal with it in the morning. But no, a pregnant lady's bladder is persistent and it is nearly always full. In the beginning it's due to the increased amount of fluid in our bodies (our blood volume increases 40% during pregnancy!), and our kidneys working more efficiently to expel waste from the body. Some say the frequency of potty breaks decreases in the second trimester, but I have yet to experience that. I've had to cut off my fluid intake at 8pm to minimize the frequency of nature's call while I sleep.

My second issue:
Pregnant ladies don't have many options when it comes to sleeping positions. I used to sleep on my stomach, which of course I can't do anymore. I started to wean myself off of it a few weeks ago by forcing myself to sleep on my side. I kept waking up to find myself on my back, which we're also not supposed to do, since the weight of the uterus can rest on the aorta and inferior vena cava, and you don't wanna mess with those. I bought a body pillow, which takes up a tremendous amount of the bed (sorry, Jerm!), but does make sleeping on my side more comfortable. That is, until my ear begins to ache because I've been lying on it too long.

My third (and worst) issue:
My left hip has been hurting pretty intensely since last weekend. This happened in my second month too, but went away with some yoga stretches. Unfortunately stretching isn't bringing me any comfort this time, so I may just have to wait it out. It hurts when I sit. It hurts when I lie down. It hurts when I breathe deeply or hiccup. The only relief I get is from standing up, and I don't think I can sleep standing up. I've done a little research and found that the pain may be due to the hormone relaxin, which relaxes the joints to prepare the body for childbirth - this can cause inflammation and pain. Almost everything I've read says this usually happens in late pregnancy (we're talkin' at 36 weeks or so), so I don't know if it could be affecting me yet. I plan to ask my doctor about it this week.

I hope to get some good nights' rests before the baby comes, since I know that once the little one is here, uninterrupted nights will be a distant memory!