The art of sleeping

I have always been an active sleeper.  I move around a lot - on my back, on my stomach, on each side in turn.  Ultimately, I think it has to do with having a cheap mattress, but that's a story for another time.

Being pregnant changes what activities I can do gracefully while sleeping.  For example, stomach sleeping is O-U-T!  Additionally, it helps to have a pillow between my legs.

Many, many years ago, when I moved out of my parent's house, my mother gave me this huge blue box sofa that she found at a yard sale & reupholstered.  The sofa was deep & wonderful, but due to it's age, it was very sinky.  Awesome for sleeping, a little challenging for sitting.  At the time, I bought 3 big pillows to bolster the back rest so you could sit on the sofa without sinking too far.  Though the sofa is long gone, the pillows have stayed with me.  They basically have been the headboard in front of the head board forever.

Dean doesn't like them, but that's likely because he's longer than I am and with those pillows in place, his feet hit the foot board.  But I digress.

The market for pregnancy gear is phenomenal.  There is actually a U-shaped pillow for women that is marketed to help them sleep.

(photo courtesy of Walmart.com)

I immediately decide NOT to buy a pillow (looking at them now, I'm thinking "how comfortable!").  Since my hip ligaments are loosening, though, I need something to go between my legs while I sleep & think - I'll use one of my headboard pillows!

Now, I've got this big pillow between my legs, and don't forget I'm still an active  sleeper.  These 2 things do not go well together. Here's a description of a typical night - it's amazing that I've been able to stay asleep through all this work.

• I usually start off &/or fall asleep laying on my left side, pillow between legs so I'm saddling it like a horse.  Left leg straight, right leg crooked over the pillow.  
• Sometime later, I roll to my back & have to extricate my left leg from below the pillow.  I push the pillow down so my ankles are resting on it.
• Sometime later, I roll to my right side which means, the right leg has to go underneath the pillow and the left leg rests on top.  By this time, though the pillow is down by my ankles and I need it to move up to better support my hips - so, in my sleep (or 1/2 sleep) I reach down & pull it up so I'm saddling the pillow again.
• Sometimes I find myself straddling the pillow with my lower half, while my upper half is on my back - so I'm sleeping in some weird Twister move.
• Sometimes, I roll from left to right (or right to left), which involves completely alternating my legs - right leg on top becomes right leg on bottom.  Left leg on top becomes left leg on bottom.
• When I'm laying on my right side (facing the middle of the bed) and have to go to the bathroom, I have to untangle my legs and swivel my body to the left to get out of bed.

It would make an interesting film "The Sleep of the Pregnant Woman!"