Sleep is difficult during pregnancy, especially in the later months. So let’s look at the reasons and their causes.
Problems:
- Heartburn and Constipation: During you pregnancy the hormones in your body actually slow down your digestive system, this causes food to stay in digestive tract longer. This is why you will suffer from heartburn and constipation.
- Frequent Urination: Most women know the cause of this one its no big mystery. Your growing uterus puts pressure on your blatter giving you the urge to go more often. This is made worst when lying down and when the child becomes more active.
- Increased Heart Rate: Your heart has to pump more blood now to feed the uterus. This increased pumping will result in an increased heart rate. The increased heart rate will cause you to feel more alert and less sleepy.
- Shortness of Breath: This is another one that the uterus will have to answer for. As it gets bigger there is less room for the diaphragm to move and this causes your shortness of breath.
- Dreams: Many women report that their dreams become more vivid during their pregnancy. This is usually due to your subconscious being preoccupied with all of the thoughts of your pregnancy. Your mind never really stops even while you are asleep. Many people don’t know this but your mind is actually more active when you are asleep and dreaming than when you are watching television.
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Solutions:
- Don’t consume a lot of fluids before bed: Avoid drinking anything that would keep you alert. For example, don’t drink coffee or teas with ginseng in them.
- Do not do any exercise before bed do it earlier in the day: Many women make this mistake. They feel by exercising before bed they will make themselves tired and be able to fall asleep faster. It actually has just the opposite effect. The increased heart rate wakes you back up and can keep you up. Instead wind down your day with some relaxation techniques.
- When you go to bed, go to bed: Don’t lay in bed and try to finish work or eat. When your in bed concentrate on sleep and nothing else.
- If you get a leg cramp get out of bed and stretch it out properly: This will prevent it from coming back quickly and you will get back to peaceful sleep.
- Learn to sleep on your side: This will be very beneficial later in your pregnancy. Sleeping on your stomach will be impossible and sleeping on your back will make you feel like you need to go to the bathroom far more often than you need.
- Get yourself a full body pillow: These are great for supporting your head, neck, back, tummy, and legs all at once. Being supported like this will give you better circulation and reduce the swelling in your ankles, feet, and hands.
- If all else fails ask your doctor about Melatonin: Melatonin is a natural sleep agent that does not cause you to fall asleep but will help keep you asleep once you are there. I have a hard time sleeping and let me tell you this stuff works great.
I hope these quick tips will give you sweet dreams and a happy healthy pregnancy.
Every pregnancy always has additional expenses that you never saw coming. In today’s economy with money as tight as it is these extras can really hurt. Here are a few ideas that I found to help in tough times.
- Don’t be afraid or embarrassed to ask friends or relatives that have been pregnant recently if they have any maternity clothes that you could borrow to get you through your pregnancy.
- If you are going to be using prenatal vitamins try ordering them in on line in bulk. It cost more up front but you will save a lot in the long run.
- Instead of buying maternity tops go with empire waist shirts. That way you can still wear them after your pregnancy.
- In order to get more use out of your pants buy some pants extending accessories like the Bella Band.
- Look in your area for maternity consignment shops.
- Find items that you like in stores and then shop online. Most of the clothing that you will need can be purchased online cheaper. This does mean that you will need to plan ahead a little more though.
I hope that these ideas will help you save some money and give you a less stressful pregnancy.
