Crucial Pregnancy Insomnia Tasks To Complete You Didn’t Think Of
So if you’re anything like me you have pregnancy insomnia and that’s what inspired you to search for a post like this. I have always struggled with it but I also go through short periods of “normal” sleep. However, pregnancy only intensified the problem. I would go to work completely exhausted because, well, I was pregnant! But even more because I was pregnant with little to no sleep. I can’t tell you how to fix it (if you have an answer leave it in the comments because I’ve tried a lot). But I can tell you how I used it to my advantage to accomplish the things I just didn’t have the energy for during the day!
A couple suggestions I will make before we get into what to do while you’re awake is to invest in a great pillow, utilize a humidifier (because congestion is 10x worse as a pregnant woman), and create a blackout nighttime routine hours before you’d like to go to sleep. These are things that will help with STAYING asleep, because (at least for me) falling asleep is never the issue.
Here’s an awesome pregnancy pillow, and a reasonably priced diffuser to get you started. I personally never use the light on my diffuser as it’s more distracting to my sleep cycle.
Jump to:
1. Nesting during insomnia
Nesting is a phrase used to describe the time spent right before labor getting your ducks in a row for baby, cleaning and organizing. This can include washing bottles, adding final touches to baby’s nursery, folding and hanging baby clothes, and more. Insomnia is the perfect time to complete these tasks since it’s likely that not being pregnant anymore (I.e. having baby) is the only thing on your mind. And all you want is good sleep again.
2. Create a hospital list and pack
Creating a hospital packing list is essential to a smooth labor, delivery, and postpartum recovery. The last thing you want to do is go into labor unprepared and send someone else to do the packing for you and forget things. That’s unnecessary frustration at a time you want to enjoy baby.
Hospital Packing Essentials include a robe, slippers, baby’s first outfit, and the list goes on. These are all things you want to have at your disposal and can easily be planned and packed while you lay awake during insomnia anyway!
Try my free hospital packing list when you subscribe to get you started. It’s all-inclusive but you can add things to your personal list that may be unique to you!
3. Try an activity to ease your insomnia
Sounds counter intuitive like you would just be more awake. But physical activity is actually meant to tire you out and you will get better rest. Start while you’re up with insomnia. Then work it into your routine before bed so that you can get more rest and experience less broken sleep. Pinterest has some great ideas for workout routines. They’ll be especially helpful postpartum and can actually strengthen down there to prepare you for a smooth childbirth process.
4. Start a blog
You can start a blog while you’re having insomnia about your journey as a mom, so that you can look back and see some of the things you went through that you’ll soon forget (until the next child). You could also add some of the testimonies to a scrapbook. Or use that testimonial to help other moms like I’m doing right now AND create something that you can monetize so you can stay home a little longer with baby or permanently become a stay at home (work from home) mom. The possibilities blogging are endless.
Starting a blog is an awesome idea ESPECIALLY for expecting moms. I’ve always had an entrepreneurial spirit, but becoming a mom only intensified that. I’m constantly plotting my escape from corporate America. Do not take mommy guilt lightly. It is a very REAL thing. A work shift is 8.5-9 hours (when you include lunch), commuting to and from are about 30 minutes each with light traffic. That’s a minimum of nearly 10 hours of your baby’s day spent with someone other than you. If you’re not lucky enough to have a non-working mom to spend quality time with your kid (I am not that lucky), then your child spends that amount in daycare. Not to mention DAYCARE IS EXPENSIVE! As hell!
Blogging for income
I digress, however, blogging can be your way out. There’s a ton of stories of women that started blogging and now make 6 figure incomes from home. Not only that, but blogging can be a source of passive income which is what most mommies yearn for. It takes less of your attention away from baby if you can blog during naps and make money while you play.
Starting a blog now, while you have insomnia, is the best time to get set up because by the time baby gets here, you could be earning with a money making blog! I personally recommend Bluehost Web-hosting to get started. It’s cheap and they have support (both chat and phone) to help you get set up every step of the way. And did I mention IT’S CHEAP! As a new mommy, we need every break we can get because money is tight. To make the deal even sweeter you can earn money on your purchase by using Rakuten Ebates to earn while you shop if you have the toolbar installed. Earn your $10 reward using my code easily because your service will be a qualifying purchase.
I will tell you in advance that for any hosting service, they require you to pay for a length of time. So the rates you see are monthly but you will have to pay for a certain number of months. I started out with a year to give myself time to see if I could actually become profitable. Then, once you’ve started, try out some beautiful, responsive Studio Mommy themes to get people to stay on your blog (that’s important!) and look into the many ways moms make money blogging.
My blogging resources:
5. Build your registry while experiencing pregnancy insomnia
Building baby registries takes time and energy that you may not want to spend during your precious daytime hours. However, the deals you get registering with stores are valuable and, let’s face it, you also don’t want to receive a bunch of gifts you’ll never use. Building a registry is the solution to telling people exactly what you want (brands, items, etc.) and making it easy for them to shop. Win-win-win.
Shop Amazon – Create an Amazon Baby RegistryWhen I started this blog originally, 2 years ago, I made a post on the best baby registries. The registry at the top of my list was hands down Toys R’ Us. Unfortunately, the store has since closed, but there are still some great registries out there! The top registry being Amazon, but start a few so you get the reward packages from all. Try Target and Walmart as well.
What do you do while you’re awake with pregnancy insomnia? Share in the comments below.
Wow, you have been extremely productive during this period of pregnancy insomnia. I had the complete opposite situation, I could not stay awake. I was falling asleep, driving home from work at 4 or so and was fast asleep by 7 most nights. I hope to have a second, so we’ll see what my experience is then.
I can’t stay awake passed a certain time either but without fail I wake up in the middle of the night I hate having broken sleep but I try to make the most of it!
You’re spot on with starting to blog while pregnant. I started mine when my lo was little, and naps and sleep times were the best time to blog. Thanks for sharing these wonderful tips.
No problem! Thanks for reading 😊