by Michelle Stein posted in Pregnancy

When I was pregnant with my very first baby, my daily routine was highly predictable.
After throwing up on the side of the road in the middle of my drive to work (and then about an hour after arriving,) I would graze on food for the rest of the day (while working, of course) before heading back home. The second I walked in my front door, I would plop myself on the couch and proceed to take a two- to three-hour nap.
I'd then wake up, grab some dinner, shower and go back to sleep for the night. Repeat.
Man, did I take those glorious, interruption-free pregnancy naps for granted.

Fast-forward 7.5 years, and I'm expecting my fourth child. Midday naps are a thing of the past because I have an almost 7-year-old, a 4-year-old and a 2-year-old running me around all day. Hey, it's the life I signed up for. But that doesn't change the fact that I feel like a constantly-nauseated, sleep-deprived shell of a person.
These days, I sneak in extra sleep whenever I possibly can. Like during those earlier-than-usual mornings when our 2-year-old is up 6 a.m. sharp and I pretend not to notice. (So my husband gets up with her.) Or when we're at my in-laws' house for lunch, and I know the kiddos have plenty of supervision. So I just "rest my eyes for a moment."

The few naps I do sneak in are heavenly. But, overall, they don't make a dent in the fact that I'm So. Freaking. Exhausted. Each morning, I wake up feeling like I got hit by a bus -- eve...