I wish my brain had an "off" switch

I could be my own circus act. I'd be "THE AMAZING AWAKE LADY!" It's a simple sideshow attraction, really. Spectators would file past my bed at three o'clock in the morning to watch the frustrated pregnant lady staring at the ceiling.

I generally don't have much of a problem falling asleep but a few hours later I wake up. If I can stir slightly and keep my mind clear, I'm sometimes able to go right back to sleep. But if I start to think about anything real, my brain goes into "on" mode and for the life of me I can't turn it off. Sometimes it's the simplest things that get me riled up too. Like, "Do I have enough bread to make lunches in the morning? Should I get up now and pull another loaf out of the freezer?" You know, earth shattering stuff.

But sadly, more often than not, I spend the wee hours of the night rehashing concerns about problems I can do nothing to solve at that time of the day. Like, "What are we going to do about our severe cash flow problem?" Or "How can I make Enrichment truly enriching in our ward?" Or the ever popular "Epidural or natural?" Or the classic "I was such an idiot today! Why did I say that to 'so and so'?"

I once read a sleep book that said if you don't fall back to sleep within the first twenty minutes of waking up during the night that it is better to get up, do something relaxing and try again later, rather than stay in bed and toss and turn. I try to do that but unfortunately, it sometimes takes two or three hours until I'm drowsy enough to want to hit the pillow again, and even then it's no guarantee that I'll fall asleep quickly. It's that horrible combination of exhausted yet alert.

Last night I got up and tried to watch the most boring television I could find in an effort to make myself sleepy, which is not hard to do since I don't have cable. It didn't really work but now I know that I really need to buy a Steam Wizard machine to clean all of that baked-on egg off my stovetop(?!)and all for just two easy payments of $39.95. I also learned that the 70's were the most romantic decade for love songs, just ask the folks over at Time Life.

And the problem is only compounded by the little guy I've got in utero whose favorite game is "Mommy's Bladder is a Trampoline."

I seriously need a nap!