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Why do I have to pee so much in
the middle of the night?
I’m pretty sure my bladder shrunk to the size of a tiny bean when
I was pregnant. During my pre-pregnancy nights I got up to pee
at least once or twice in the middle of the night, and then add a
baby to my belly and I was making a beeline, or pee-line, to the
loo no less than four times a night. I would’ve been happy with a
bed pan, though my husband wasn’t so keen on that idea. Most
pregnant women deal with the same frequent need to urinate,
making it something of an inside joke and a pregnancy rite of
passage. Much of my conversations started with: “You won’t
believe how much I peed yesterday!”. As a mama-to-be peeing
bragging rights are something to be proud of.
So why the heck are you peeing so freaking much? The amount
of blood in your body increases by about 50% during pregnancy;
that’s a lot of fluid moving around in there, much of which gets
filtered through your kidneys and eventually finds its way to your
bladder. Another reason is the pressure being put on your bladder
from that ever expanding uterus of yours. While the need to pee
is ongoing during the day, it can ramp up at night thanks to the
fluid from your legs and feet now finding its way to your bladder.
Staying hydrated is super important as a mama-to-be, so don’t try
anything foolish like not drinking water during the day to stave off
your overactive bladder. What you can do is try and lean forward
when you pee, to help get all of the urine out of your bladder. Also
don’t try to hold it in, as it could lead to the awfulness of a bladder
infection. Speaking of which, if you have any pain whilst you pee,
see your doctor straight away. It could be a sign of a urinary tract
infection (UTI ) , which is marked by the feeling of peeing razor
blades. You’ll want to get that treated asap, not just to help with
the pain, but leaving a UTI untreated could potentially turn into
something much worse like a kidney infection or early labour.
Think of it this way: it’s all good training for when the baby arrives
and wakes you up every five minutes. Always a silver lining!
“
Staying hydrated
is sup er important
”
SLEEP
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