20 wks and my butt is still dragging

[Ambivalent Dreams]

I know being tired is common in pregnancy, but I’m not sure I should be this tired this far along. I don’t even like standing up without leaning on something and all day I just want to be in the bed. I don’t think it is for lack of sleep. I am getting 8 – 8.5 hours most nights, some nights I get more. On Saturdays and Sundays I take naps, usually for about 2 hours. My blood pressure has been low, so I have tried eating more salt. I’m not very good at that though. I will try harder. I also think that my iron may be low as I was anemic last pregnancy and I have had some crazy cravings. I picked up an iron supplement today at the health food store to try and help with that. I also may not be taking in enough calories. I am still having a hard time eating due to aversions and nausea. I am taking B6 and Unisom for that. Zofran did squat for me. The lady at the health store suggested I also take a B complex in addition to my prenatal vitamins.

Is there anything else I can do? I know there is some vitamin that you can take too much of during pregnancy. Is it Vitamin A? Should I worry about taking a B complex on top of my prenatal vitamins? I’m tired of being tired!

[MaerynPearl]

I know you can take too much C... but its 3000+ per day, which is a LOT... my midwife has me taking 1000 each day and my doctor has me take 2000 when Im around someone sick or if I get sick myself.

[KempsMama]

I feel your pain. I'm 25-26 weeks now, and I'm still dragging. The food aversions are causing me to eat a horribly poor diet, and I'm not even trying to fix it, honestly. With DS1 it was the same, once the m/s stopped at 24 weeks I barely ate until he was born and then BAM I ate like a HORSE. This is just how my body handles pregnancy, I guess. It blows, but I just ride through it. Have no advice for you, just commiserating.

[MacKinnon]

I'm just commiserating! I'm also 20 weeks and I've been incredibly, totally exhausted this pregnancy. After flying through my last two without skipping a beat, I'm just beat. Making up for the last two with this one. I sleep 9pm to 6:30am most nights, crashing with the kids and waking up for work. On the weekends, I usually sleep 12 to 14 hours! I'm dragging all day, totally exhausted, just waiting to get home and go to bed. I do nothing at home but sit on my butt and sleep. I keep waiting for it to lift, but it's not. I have been consistently taking all my vitamins, and the addition of Vit D and Fish Oil has helped perk me up a little, I'm less beat during the day anyway! Best of luck!

[bgb699]

I'm 37 weeks and STILL dragging. Extra iron helped a little bit, but not enough. I keep waiting for the nesting to kick in, I have zero motivation to do anything. The only thing I have done is washed baby clothes, everything else is still packed away.

[IAMommy]

Sometimes it is just the pregnancy. With DS, I was fatigued the entire time in spite of a great diet and exercising regularly. I've had much more energy with this one and my diet has been worse and I've had less exercise. I also have very low blood pressure, but that doesn't seem to cause the fatigue.
Vitamin A can be harmful - it's best to get it as beta carotene and that way your body converts what it needs and excretes the rest.

[VillageMom6]

I've been the same way. I've been feeling better since adding Floradix liquid iron and a pitcher of tea per day of brewed raspberry leaves, nettles and lemon grass. Oh, and a good overall prenatal vitamin, too.

I hope that you feel better soon!

[Ambivalent Dreams]

What is the tea helpful with?

[VillageMom6]

It's my understanding that there are some helpful vitamins and minerals in the tea ingredients, including iron and Vitamin C.

I know that the raspberry leaves are a uterine tonic and help prevent excessive bleeding at birth. My own experience has born that out. In several of my births I bled more than usual at birth, which left me feeling weak afterwards.

The pregnancy during which I drank lots of raspberry leaf tea I had very little bleeding at birth and I felt fantastic afterwards.

Plus, my two year old loves the stuff, even though it's unsweetened. It makes a great change from apple juice and chocolate milk!

[aikigypsy]

Iron might help some, but you might just need more sleep. I'm at about 18 weeks now and sleeping 8-9 hours at night (occasionally interrupted by one thing or another) and then I have a nap most afternoons. Could not get by on less, no way.

And yeah, I had the 2nd trimester burst of energy. It lasted about 3 days.