Nightmares.

I've seen lots of warnings in various pregnancy books that pregnant women have weird dreams. I can attest to this, and have shared a few of the weirder ones on this blog. What no one tells you about is the nightmares.

I have had more nightmares in the past four plus months than I have ever had in my life. I've never been much of a nightmare kind of person. I only ever had one recurring (and rare) nightmare as a child, and though I've had various and sundry nightmares as an adult, never with the frequency or vividness I am having now. It's one of the less fun aspects of being pregnant. I'm starting to wonder if it's just me - if my crazy brain is going into hyper-overprotective mode already and it's manifesting as nightmares - or if it's a byproduct of hormones and body changes. Maybe a combination of the two?

I'm already having a harder time sleeping. I have to get up a million times per night to pee, and it's getting harder to get comfortable with a huge body pillow, sheets, comforters and cats. Plus, if I lay on one side too long, my hip falls asleep (not pleasant) but it takes two construction cranes, a Supreme Court ruling and an act of Congress to just roll over. (See: body pillow, sheets, comforter and cats.) And poor Allen. I got up early on a Sunday morning and though he woke up, he drowsed in bed for another hour because it was so nice to have some room to stretch out finally. He noted that when we buy a new bed, we may want to consider a king size...

I have, so far, loved being pregnant. I love the rounding of my belly (minus the creepy belly-button thing), I love that I am both creator and caretaker of a new life, I love hearing the whooshwhooshwhoosh of the heartbeat. I love it when Allen says "Bring me that belly," and puts his hands on my expanding waist with a look of awe and sweetness and love on his face. I miss having a glass of wine at the end of the day - or, let's be honest here, in the middle of the day... But I know that's temporary and I am growing a person! It's amazing!

But I could really do without the nightmares.