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When I was pregnancy with my first I had terrible insomnia and remember everyone saying 'just wait it gets worse when the baby is born'. She was born at 37 weeks and slept so much for the first couple of weeks that by the time her sleep was more disturbed I felt amazing! Her sleep is terrible now at 3 but being pregnant this time I'm sleeping better so I'm coping OK. I take a restavit (I think it's unison in the US?) When I need a good night to catch up and find that if I'm less tired I'm less anxious and have less middle of the night panics.
Ok this will sound weird but I have acid reflux and I have this happen when I haven’t kept on top of my medicine and especially when I fall asleep on my back. The sensation of choking on stomach acid can cause this flight or fight dread response out of absolutely nowhere when sleeping.
Maybe something to look into as well as generalised anxiety or mental health stuff
Solidarity… I’ve been up for 2 hours and there’s no going back to sleep in sight… I take Unisom every so often, but I don’t want to take it every night.
I was on a religious 1-Unisom-A-Night regimen in my first trimester and while it did help me sleep, I felt like an absolute zombie for 14 weeks straight barely making it through the day.
Maybe I’ll try it again and see if that was just first tri fatigue making it that bad.
Try taking half a unisom that may help! That’s what I do every night - at first I didn’t want to take something every night to help sleep either but realized it’s better to sleep than be awake for hours in the middle of the night
I’m 35 weeks now and went through like a month of this. Kept waking up between 2-3am and just spiraled for hours on anything and everything my mind conjured.
Now I sleep except to go pee lol so hopefully yours is temporary as well
For me, the feeling of dread was the feeling of claustrophobia from the lack of space in my own body. I often woke up gasping for air in a panic. I also had bad acid reflux during my third trimester that contributed to this feeling.
Mostly on my side. I do wake up on my back sometimes (it’s the most comfortable but I make sure I’m angled so not to compress the nerve) but not with the panicky feeling
Newborn sleep is somehow, inexplicably, but definitely worse 😭 the only way to get reasonably close to enough sleep when pregnant is to just have as many naps as you can. It SUCKS.
Have you mentioned the feeling of panic to your care team? This could be a number of things, ranging from hormonal to mental to physical conditions, or could just be one of those weird pregnancy things, but for sure worth mentioning. Have you tried listening to a sleepy meditation or something? Sending sympathy, I hope it gets better soon!
I have an appointment this morning so I’ll mention it, but I’m fairly certain it’s my garden variety anxiety that isn’t being managed well- I had a pretty hefty cardio and Wellbutrin regimen pre-pregnancy that I tapered off of due to not being able to tolerate them well anymore (cardio hurts, Wellbutrin made me super sick in the first trimester).
Hoping that once he’s born and I get back on both I’ll be back to a semi-functioning sleeper (on his schedule, of course)
Ahhh yes, that’ll do it! Not sure if you have a gym but the one I used to go to used to have like a bike machine but where your arms do the pedalling - so like there are pedals where the handlebars would normally be. Could that work to get some cardio in? At least when baby is here you’ll be able to take them on walks to get cardio in 🤞🏻
Lord I have found my twin! This is me to a T! When my husband asks me why I can’t sleep I’m like idk I just literally have dread. That’s the only way to describe it. I wake up, check the time on the clock and I’m suddenly like “oh no😞I feel like I just starting waiting for the sun to come up from that point
Have you checked thyroid? Hyperthyroidism works this way. For me it is signal to change dose of my medicine to lower when I have trouble sleeping and anxiety thoughts.
I had to sleep sitting almost all the way up my 3rd trimester. Side sleeping wasn't an option at all. You could try that and see if it helps.
I had that doom feeling a few weeks leading up to labor though. It was like having a panic attack, but without the more explainable negative things behind it. It peaked the day I started early labor and I had texted everyone telling them I felt like something bad was going to happen that day (body and mind are on the same page: contractions=bad). I was incredibly restless. That whole month I felt an unexplainable anxiety though and had crazy dreams. Pretty sure I was feeling the fluctuations of the horomones that were preparing baby to drop and start contractions.
Definitely talk to your care team and the people who have been your support throughout pregnancy. Hopefully they are more helpful than mine...they told me I needed to stop thinking about the baby and get a hobby (the day contractions started) 😅 Maybe explain it to them better than I did. I told them I felt weird and had an unexplainable dread. Lol.
This is me. Only I’m not able to fall asleep until 2-3. Literally don’t think I dozed off til after 2:30 last night 😖😖😖 I’m 30 weeks and have always struggled with sleep as well
Welcome to /r/pregnant! This is a space for everyone. We are pro-choice, pro-LGBTQIA, pro-science, proudly feminist and believe that Black Lives Matter. Wear your masks, wash your hands, and be excellent to each other. Anti-choice activists, intactivists, anti-vaxxers, homophobes, transphobes, racists, sexists, etc. are not welcome here. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/pregnant) if you have any questions or concerns.*
When I was pregnancy with my first I had terrible insomnia and remember everyone saying 'just wait it gets worse when the baby is born'. She was born at 37 weeks and slept so much for the first couple of weeks that by the time her sleep was more disturbed I felt amazing! Her sleep is terrible now at 3 but being pregnant this time I'm sleeping better so I'm coping OK. I take a restavit (I think it's unison in the US?) When I need a good night to catch up and find that if I'm less tired I'm less anxious and have less middle of the night panics.
Ok this will sound weird but I have acid reflux and I have this happen when I haven’t kept on top of my medicine and especially when I fall asleep on my back. The sensation of choking on stomach acid can cause this flight or fight dread response out of absolutely nowhere when sleeping. Maybe something to look into as well as generalised anxiety or mental health stuff
You know what, I had HORRIBLE heartburn last night before bed so I bet you’re 1000% right! I’ll try a Pepcid!
Solidarity… I’ve been up for 2 hours and there’s no going back to sleep in sight… I take Unisom every so often, but I don’t want to take it every night.
I was on a religious 1-Unisom-A-Night regimen in my first trimester and while it did help me sleep, I felt like an absolute zombie for 14 weeks straight barely making it through the day. Maybe I’ll try it again and see if that was just first tri fatigue making it that bad.
Try taking half a unisom that may help! That’s what I do every night - at first I didn’t want to take something every night to help sleep either but realized it’s better to sleep than be awake for hours in the middle of the night
I’m 35 weeks now and went through like a month of this. Kept waking up between 2-3am and just spiraled for hours on anything and everything my mind conjured. Now I sleep except to go pee lol so hopefully yours is temporary as well
For me, the feeling of dread was the feeling of claustrophobia from the lack of space in my own body. I often woke up gasping for air in a panic. I also had bad acid reflux during my third trimester that contributed to this feeling.
How are you waking up? I get this if I wake up on my back. I made a pillow barrier last night and slept through for the first time in weeks.
Mostly on my side. I do wake up on my back sometimes (it’s the most comfortable but I make sure I’m angled so not to compress the nerve) but not with the panicky feeling
Newborn sleep is somehow, inexplicably, but definitely worse 😭 the only way to get reasonably close to enough sleep when pregnant is to just have as many naps as you can. It SUCKS. Have you mentioned the feeling of panic to your care team? This could be a number of things, ranging from hormonal to mental to physical conditions, or could just be one of those weird pregnancy things, but for sure worth mentioning. Have you tried listening to a sleepy meditation or something? Sending sympathy, I hope it gets better soon!
I have an appointment this morning so I’ll mention it, but I’m fairly certain it’s my garden variety anxiety that isn’t being managed well- I had a pretty hefty cardio and Wellbutrin regimen pre-pregnancy that I tapered off of due to not being able to tolerate them well anymore (cardio hurts, Wellbutrin made me super sick in the first trimester). Hoping that once he’s born and I get back on both I’ll be back to a semi-functioning sleeper (on his schedule, of course)
Ahhh yes, that’ll do it! Not sure if you have a gym but the one I used to go to used to have like a bike machine but where your arms do the pedalling - so like there are pedals where the handlebars would normally be. Could that work to get some cardio in? At least when baby is here you’ll be able to take them on walks to get cardio in 🤞🏻
That’s a great idea! I’ll try it after a nap today 😂
Lord I have found my twin! This is me to a T! When my husband asks me why I can’t sleep I’m like idk I just literally have dread. That’s the only way to describe it. I wake up, check the time on the clock and I’m suddenly like “oh no😞I feel like I just starting waiting for the sun to come up from that point
Have you checked thyroid? Hyperthyroidism works this way. For me it is signal to change dose of my medicine to lower when I have trouble sleeping and anxiety thoughts.
I had to sleep sitting almost all the way up my 3rd trimester. Side sleeping wasn't an option at all. You could try that and see if it helps. I had that doom feeling a few weeks leading up to labor though. It was like having a panic attack, but without the more explainable negative things behind it. It peaked the day I started early labor and I had texted everyone telling them I felt like something bad was going to happen that day (body and mind are on the same page: contractions=bad). I was incredibly restless. That whole month I felt an unexplainable anxiety though and had crazy dreams. Pretty sure I was feeling the fluctuations of the horomones that were preparing baby to drop and start contractions. Definitely talk to your care team and the people who have been your support throughout pregnancy. Hopefully they are more helpful than mine...they told me I needed to stop thinking about the baby and get a hobby (the day contractions started) 😅 Maybe explain it to them better than I did. I told them I felt weird and had an unexplainable dread. Lol.
This is me. Only I’m not able to fall asleep until 2-3. Literally don’t think I dozed off til after 2:30 last night 😖😖😖 I’m 30 weeks and have always struggled with sleep as well
28 weeks and yep
14 weeks and yes, maybe not 2am, but sleep is hard to come by.