Snoring and Not Sleeping

I don't think I have slept a full night through since becoming pregnant. This is due to a combination of panic / nightmares, needing to go to the loo and more recently; snoring!!

Why have I started to snore? Apparently, as you enter your second trimester you may find yourself snoring for the first time in your life. However, there's a good chance that you'll stop snoring after your baby is born. The cause of your midnight melodies is swollen nasal passages. During pregnancy, an increase in progesterone may cause the soft tissues of the nasal passages to swell and partially block the airways. Another possible explanation is that if your airways are naturally narrow or if you have extra tissue in the back of your throat, any pregnancy-induced swelling or fluid retention can block your airways. According to a sleep survey, about 30 per cent of mums-to-be start to snore during this time.

What can I do about it? You can help control your snoring by sleeping on your side rather than on your back and by wearing a nasal strip to keep your nostrils wide open (available at most chemists). http://www.babycentre.co.uk/pregnancy/antenatalhealth/sleep/snoring/

Further searching found information on a recent survey that found a clear link between a pregnant woman's weight and her likelihood of snoring. Additionally the pregnant women who snored had a greater neck circumference than the non-snorers. What was of particular interest to the Edinburgh team was the upper airway narrowing during pregnancy. Douglas explained: "this narrowing is caused by a physical phenomenon connected to increased weight and distention of the abdomen during pregnancy". Fat is deposited in the soft tissue of the neck and around the upper airways, which increases neck size and narrows the airway. In pregnant women blood pressure rises as the airway becomes narrower. This discovery indicates that pregnant snorers have an increased risk of pre-eclampsia.
http://www.britishsnoring.co.uk/snoring/snoring_during_pregnancy.php