BABY NIGHTMARES. NO REST FOR THE MAMA-IN-TRAINING!

The other night I dreamt I was a sheep being electrocuted by a farmer and when I begged him not to because he would kill my baby, he told me that this was just how things had to be. The night before that I was a prawn being scooped up in a net on its way to a seafood platter. I’ve also been drowning in a huge surf with Ellen Degeneres, chased by snakes around a camping site at Uluru, walking across the world after the apocalypse trying to find somewhere safe to give birth, and onboard a sinking ship where I woke up just before I plunged into the ocean closely followed by a massive cruise ship.

I am wrenched out of my dreams and find myself drenched in nervous sweat, causing me to have to change the sheets, therefore adding to the laundry, which already far exceeds normal amounts. I have never met two humans who do more laundry than my husband and I. I can identify a few reasons for this; Gregory takes whatever towel he can find when he showers (twice a day) which generally means he starts at least one fresh one daily, I have two towels because I’m a girl and we need one for our hair and one for our bodies and I usually have a set of workout gear most days that needs serious attention. Although not my current walking gear, since I don’t really count that as exercise in comparison to my beloved running and am yet to crack a sweat. So I get up, my loving husband convincing me that I am not indeed a sheep, and strip the bed feeling like I’ve been put through the wringer rather than rested and restored after a night of peaceful slumber.

I’ve been having nightmares on and off throughout the pregnancy, but they seem to be getting worse now. I assume it’s anxiety about the impending labour, birth and motherhood. But given that everyone tells you to sleep now because you won’t be able to later, this is presenting as rather a problem. And then I wonder what it’s like for the peanut. Does it know I’m having a nightmare? Is it having one too? Do I tense up and release adrenalin in a desperate sheep’s attempt to fight off the farmer with the electric shock? Adrenalin that charges through my baby’s tiny body that sends it spinning and churning in its rapidly diminishing living quarters. Will this result in a baby that has nightmares and awakes in a fit every night, sweating and scared until it realises (when its exhausted parents pick it up and cuddle and comfort it) that its demons aren’t real.

These are the things I am getting concerned about right now. Miscellaneous details to detract me from the fact that I am heading towards participation in the greatest natural endurance event in the world. Though I have discovered that if I nap during the day I don’t seem to have the same problem. Perhaps it’s because it’s generally for not much more than forty minutes. But I tell you what, those forty minutes feel pretty good. So good that I might just toddle off and try to catch a few right now…sweet dreams my blogee lambs, no more sheep for me!

By the way…

Current score on the boy vs girl guess; Boy – 4. Girl – 1. And no, I haven’t cast my vote yet.