Originally, I was going to call this blog “Momnesia”, but that was already taken. So I used a suggestion made by my friend Justin. At first I had rejected the suggestion, because I don’t really suffer from insomnia, not even that often while pregnant. However, as I began to think about it, I realized that the root of this word was not insomnia, but somnia–or, more specifically, somnus, which means “sleep”. How much sleep I am or am not getting isn’t the point. But the sleep that moms do get is either scarce or precious, making “Momsomnia” a rather apropos title for a blog of mine.
Justin knows. When we all got together to game, I was often one to fall asleep when it got late, even well before I had a baby. My characters had to be put on auto-pilot during my impromptu naps, because I was pretty much unrousable until the nap had run its course. Now that I’m a mother of a toddler and eight months pregnant, I either get lots of sleep, or little sleep, and my body just has to deal with that fact, because spontaneously napping while my two-year-old has run of the house is not always the smartest choice in the world. And not sleeping carries a bunch of consequences all its own.
But I’m at that stage in pregnancy where I long for bedtime or a nap all day, and then don’t take that nap or go to bed on time because I either have other things to do, am relishing the quiet time and want to be awake for it, or I have to use the bathroom so often that it’s almost inconvenient to sleep between potty breaks. Tonight, for instance, I’d really love to lie down and go to sleep, but I’ve been drinking a LOT of water today. I’m also suffering from acid reflux, and the prescription ranitidine (Zantac) is causing chest pains due to either the medicine, itself, or depriving undigested food of acid it needs to move through my sluggish, squashed digestive tract. I might also have a little foot using my stomach as an ottoman, which could be contributing to the problem.
And, in the midst of this rambling about tummy problems keeping me awake, my eyes are closing, I am drifting off into la-la land and typing whole pages of the letter “m” to prove my point!
So, that is Momsomnia in a nutshell. Feel free to add your definitions to the comments! I’m going to go to sleep now.
Coffee and Lollipops 