Sleeping

So, as a pregnant lady, sleeping is a very big deal. My sleeping has been a source of fascination. My insomnia, my bat ears, my pea-sized bladder, my pillows - they are true entertainment in my household.


Starting from the very beginning, after we conceived but before we knew, I had big red waving flags. For the first time in my life I started waking up to pee every night, and not just once. Since that first night, when our little embryo's were still just a guess to us, I've been waking up every single night. I like to play a little game with myself and see just how long I can make it before my first pee. If it's an hour after lights out, I've lost. If I last 3 or 4 hours, I win! I guess my my gold medal prize will ultimately be the same thing as my consolation prize... waking up in a few months to feed two little babies!


Early in the pregnancy I was going across the hallway so I wouldn't wake up Mark during my frequent pee-runs. But, considering I would freak myself out every night looking down the hallway (too many ghost shows!), I decided that Mark would just have to deal with the noise of a sliding bathroom door attached to the bedroom. Now I roll (literally) off the side of the bed, take 4 steps (hoping none of them are on Cooper's head) to the bathroom. Fortunately there are no images that conjure thoughts of ghostly TV shows past. Less importantly, Mark is a great sleeper and doesn't budge. Neither does Cooper (except the one time I closed his head in the sliding door).


Speaking of Cooper, he has proven to me that I will not get a lot of use out of a baby monitor. When ever he gets up I hear the pitter-patter of his paws and I'm wide awake. I hear him whimper at the dog door when I accidentally leave laundry near his landing path. I hear him paw at his food bowl if he gets the late-night munchies. I hear all his nocturnal adventures and I can't go back to sleep until he's soundly back in his bed. I guarantee you that the more I try to ignore it and sleep through it, the more demanding he gets until I have to get out of bed to tend to what ever the issue is for the night. Isn't that sweet of little Cooper to prep me for motherhood! In fact there's a mosquito I need to thank also. One little persistent mosquito managed to keep me awake all night - not Cooper or my bladder, but the muted buzz of a mosquito.


Lastly who would have thought that something as simple as pillows would play such a big part of pregnancy life. At first there were just 2 pillows I needed. Then a friend gave the mother of all pregnancy pillows - it's U-shaped and takes up half the bed. I decided it would be good to have in a spare bed to use during the day. I just couldn't bring myself to sleep with it in bed, it was not conducive to spooning. Well then I started using 3 pillows (added on between my legs), then 4 (behind my back), then 6 (more for my head), and then someone suggested I put 2 under my feet and one in between my feet. That was a total of NINE pillows. Well, I challenge any of you to strap a bowling ball to your stomach and situate 9 pillows round your body in the middle of the night. I gave the monster pregnancy pillow a try and now I'm back down to three pillows (kind of). So Mark, laughing at my pillow collection by, on and around the bed, decided to play a joke on me last night. After washing my face I came to be to find EVERY pillow in the house piled on my side of the bed under the covers. Yes, even the throw pillows from the couch. I laughed so hard I almost had a major accident (see paragraph two). So even in the most mundane of tasks, as annoying and frustrating it can be, my Mark can still bring sheer joy to the moment. These kids are so lucky!!!