Daytime Sleep vs. Night time Sleep

My third trimester has been a trimester of sleep. My sleeping patterns have been so irregular, I can only deduce that I am in training for future sleepless nights. I love training!

The odd thing, though, is during the day, I get sucked into a sleep vortex against which I have little control. I could be doing anything - watching TV, shopping, exercising, eating - when I get a tug. The tug starts as a heaviness in my eye lids. The heaviness cascades down through my neck and shoulders and settles in my chest. If I'm away from home, I know from this point I have about 30 minutes to get to a bed before my eyes actually close. If I'm at home and laying on the sofa, I usually have enough time to get my glasses off & maybe even turn the TV off before I'm gone. When the sleep takes over, I'm O-U-T. The daytime sleep is usually dreamless and lasts for about 90 minutes to 2.5 hours. When I wake up, it always takes me about 30 minutes to an hour to fully wake up during which I stumble around the condo, stare into space, try to remember where I am, what I was doing, what time it is, how I fell so soundly asleep in the middle of the day. Once I'm fully awake, though, I'm pretty much good to go for the rest of the day (daytime naps usually happen after 2 pm).

At night everything is different. Before I became pregnant, I had trouble sleeping at night. Add in the extra weight and general overall discomfort you can imagine that getting to sleep at night would be even more of a challenge. Or you could assume, with the daytime sleep vortex, I would be sucked into sleep as easily at night as I am during the day. If only that were the case. I am usually tossing & turning. Getting up to pee, to read books, to rearrange the pillows, trying to find a better position. No sleep vortex to save me from typical restless nights. :(

Another odd thing between the 2 sleep periods - during the day, the sleep vortex sucks me in regardless of my sleep position. I could be on my left side, right side, back - with or without a pillow & it doesn't matter. When the sleep vortex demands, I must acquiesce. At night, however, laying on my right side means I am going to have heartburn. Laying in a reclining position on my back generally means that I'll have a foot in my ribs. Laying on my left side is generally uncomfortable but helps me avoid the foot and the heartburn.

Once the baby is born, I'm going to sleep on my stomach for a month or two!