Ouch everything hurts and I can't sleep

I slept last night. Yes, I actually slept last night. For the past 2 weeks I have been exhausted but not able to get a good night sleep. It seems that my body has started producing increased levels of Progesterone and one side effect of this is it relaxes smooth muscles, which helps keep the uterus quiet (non-contracting) as the baby grows. Progesterone also relaxes the ligaments between joints so your pubic bone can separate. For people like me that already have joint pains it can make your joint pain worse.

So evenings have been as follows: I am tired at the usual time of 10 pm, go upstairs, change in my pjs, arrange my 4 pillows. One for under my head, a large square pillow to elevate my feet (if your feet are elevated it helps with swelling of the ankles, which can irritate the joints, so I don't want to risk it), a long body pillow between my knees and a second pillow to hug (I used to hug Geoff but with the thousands of pillows Geoff can't even find me in bed if he tries, you would have to send in the army to dig me out.) Then I sling the blankets over me to get nice and warm. Fall asleep, wake up 15 minutes later because my joints are starting to hurt. I slather Absorbine Jr. on my ankles, knees and wrist. On really bad days I put on my wrist brace (I can't stand it most of the time because I can't flex my wrist). Get back in bed with the same pillow ritual. The Absorbine Jr works for about 15 minutes, so as long as I can fall asleep I am usually down for a bit, until baby kicks my bladder and I need to go to the bathroom and everything starts over again. This usually happens 2 or 3 times a night. Sometimes other things are added on top that wakes me up, for example the cats or Geoff.

Now last night was different, my naturopath gave my this drink to have before bed and said it should help. I don't know if it was that or the fact I went to bed at 1:30 am and was very tired, but I am well rested and feel like I will have a productive day. Yippee for me.

That is all my lamenting for now; I just needed to complain a bit. You have to admit that I have not done much complaining since the beginning of the pregnancy, so I am entitled.