Sleep Disturbance and New Age Music

So, I want to talk a little about sleep. I want to say right now that I don't mean this as a complaint. It feels silly complaining about sleep stuff when several of my friends with little tiny babies are getting sanity-threatening levels of sleep, as in very, very little. (I can't wait for that part of this child-rearing experience!)

Still, none of the pregnancy books really talk about this. Here it is: I wake up about 15 times during the night. Then, it is hard to get back to sleep. I wake up and can't fall back to sleep because

-I have to pee
-our insane cat Peeps is clawing at the window
-I am having fantasies about euthanizing our cat Peeps
-I need some water
-I drank water and it made my stomach hurt
-my stomach hurts for some other reason (apparently, I have morning sickness when I sleep)
-one of the other cats is running up and down the house like a tiny wildebeest
-an invisible being in another dimension sneezes...well, really, sometimes I am not sure why I wake. I just do.

It's very odd. The worst part is, in general, my stomach is a little icky at night. Trying to fall back to sleep when you always have some indigestion or stomach pain is...a challenge. So, I'm trying to look at this as an opportunity to practice the mindfulness training I just completed. Hmmm. So, this is what I try to do when I can't sleep:

-just "notice" Kiyomi's loud mouth breathing and let it go
-just "notice" my irritation with her loud mouth breathing and let it go
-let myself just feel the sciatica-like pain in my ass and hip I've been having for 3 weeks now (maybe it's piriformis syndrome) without resisting it
-let myself just feel the stomach pain without resistance
-do progressive relaxation - starting by focusing on my breath
-just "notice" how much I can't breath because of all the mucus
-try to let go of the 1,000 other random thoughts, like what I'm going to do with that boy in my 6th period who is like a monkey on crack and other sundry irritations.

This sounds like a lot of complaining. Actually, I feel pretty positive. And, though it is a challenge at night, I definitely feel that my ability to relax and focus on my breath has gotten better. In fact, I feel downright happy most of the time. (Despite the fact that this week was the pukiest to date - I threw up three times. Okay, two of those times, I didn't have anything in my stomach, but WHEW throwing up nothing but a little stomach acid really takes it out of you!) I just want to document this experience, and this sleep thing is something I hope to forget soon...

Okay, one more negative thing. My mouth has tasted absolutely disgusting all week. Whatever I eat or drink seems to linger in my mouth and create a very yucko aftertaste. Blech. This, in turn, has lead to a LOT of gagging and dry-heaving this week. I've moved more into that dry-heaving phase and away from simply gagging. Nice.

Oh, one other thing I've been wanting to note, so I won't forget. Basically since the start of my pregnancy, I find that I'm kind of winded when I'm talking for more than a few minutes to my classes. I get all out of breath and my heart rate seems high. It's really odd - something that happens fairly consistently...and something that never used to happen. I know my blood pressure is nice and low, so apparently this isn't really a long-term stress reaction. It's just so odd.

On a completely unrelated note, I've been forcing Kiyomi to do yoga with me each night. Lately, I've had some very mild headaches, so the yoga is very mellow - mostly lying down and in seated positions...with a lot of shavasana and a little seated meditation. In the mostly dark of the living room. Basically it's like foreplay for sleep.

Anyway, it's inspired me to create the lamest station on Pandora... I'm trying to JUST get chanting - not Gregorian style. Well...it really wants to play a lot of new agey music that I DO NOT want. So, I'm trying to train it...what I'm realizing is that mostly people want actual music stations, even if the music has little twigs breaking in the background and lots of synthesizers, Carlos Nakai on the flute, the sound of water running over rocks, and other super woowoo instrumentation. I mean, apparently people don't just want chanting. I guess I get it, but boy it would be great if I could force Pandora to give me what I want!

Well, Friday the 13th is coming - it's the start of my 13th week (fun, eh?) and my next birth center appointment. I think we'll get to hear the heartbeat! Exciting!!! It is also the official end of my first trimester...which I hope means the barfing will subside soon! At least in time for turkey and pie. Incidentally, we waited too long to sign up for centering with our month at the Birth Center...so, we're with the June group. My due date's only two days from June...so I guess it's not that big a deal. PLUS, the time is MUCH, MUCH better...maybe this is an auspicious sign?

Time to sign up for other birthing classes, too, I guess. I suppose it's time we decide which method we're interested in...

So, Pandora just played a song called "heysatan"...what???