Recently, hubby has been very good at looking after me. I never doubted he would be but you know what men are like sometimes; they switch off or forget things you have said or asked them to do. They are not always forthcoming when it comes to doing stuff around the house (us women of course find the daily chores amazingly exciting!). There are a few little things I am struggling to do now, simple things such as bending over, getting in and out of the car, all little things I have noticed that have become a bit of a task! Being on my feet for a very long time whether it be in the kitchen or while I am making some crafty bits and bobs can make me ache as does sitting down for a long time - I have read it is best to make sure you are not sitting or standing for a long period of time both for comfort and to try and prevent varicose veins so I make sure I don't sit at my desk all day. My biggest problem now though is sleeping. I can't go a night without broken sleep, some nights are of course better than others but even so, my sleep is disturbed and I know it's only gonna get worse the bigger I get!

You are advised during pregnancy that sleeping on your left side is best for both you and your baby. Sleeping on your back causes baby to squash organs and blood vessels which will leave you feeling light headed, nauseous and cause lowered blood pressure. Sleeping on your right is a no no too because your Vena Cava is located on the right hand side of your body and pressure and weight from your growing uterus can reduce blood flow to baby when you sleep on this side. Your tummy is a no because it is very uncomfortable (and I would assume unsafe for the baby?!) So the left side it is! At first I didn't mind this, I tend to sleep on my side as it is and tend to always favour the left but lately I have struggled. I wake up with a very sore hip or (as I always have to have my arm under the pillow) a very sore, dead arm! The achy hip also sometimes causes my back to ache and some nights, for no particular reason I just can't seem to find a position which I am comfortable dropping off to sleep in. I can be absolutely shattered and unable to keep my eyes open yet still tossing and turning and not able to switch off.

I know I am not alone. It is very rare for a pregnant woman not to have complaints through these 40 weeks with regards to sleep. Even if you can get comfy you will find that your bladder wakes you up in the night! Mine doesn't seem to wake me up until it gets to the point my tummy is hurting because I am bursting that much which is not pleasant. Your tummy hurts while you waddle to the loo, while your on the loo and while you waddle back. Oh the joys!

The great thing is though, while you won't have a nights sleep like you did before being withchild you can make for a better nights sleep. This is where hubby being good comes in, the other week I came home to find he had bought me a pregnancy pillow. Bless him!  It is a long pillow which you position yourself onto by placing bump on top of it, wrapping your legs around and then kind of cuddling up to. Sounds glam eh!? You can obviously adjust your position to however is comfortable for you but that is the basic jist of how it works, plus in most there is a pocket so you can put lavender drops on a tissue and place it inside in order to aid sleep. As time has gone on I have found I sometimes needed more pillows surrounding me (and blocking poor hubby's side of the bed) although lately they have once again been relegated back to the spare room cupboard.

A tip I now live by would be try not to drink too late in the evening. Make sure you have plenty of fluids throughout the day (especially water) but maybe try and reign it in after 7pm so you're not going to bed with your bladder still filling up! Also try and have a relaxing couple of hours before bed; a long hot bubble bath, relax on the sofa with a book and no mobile phones or laptops or other technical distractions. I am terrible, I am always doing something indoors whether it be housework or blogging or making stuff so have had to make myself sit down after a certain point and just relax and unwind.

Sleep becomes an awkward task at this stage now sadly and even the husband suffers what with either having a wife who is tossing and turning or simply because pillows have taken over his side of the bed! It makes me feel bad when he jokes about how much space he had in the bed, he works such long hours and works very hard so I feel ever so guilty when I know I may have compromised his well needed good nights sleep.

I am unwinding a bit more now and not trying to make sure I keep on top of the housework every day or the washing. If I feel tired when I get home and want to rest then I will do. It's the best thing for my body in the long run and as many people tell me, I may as well take advantage of sleep now while I still can!