Feel bad for being totally inactive during this pregnancy.

[Rocklover]

I feel sick constantly (at 22 bloody weeks), have a low iron count and I'm beginning to get breathless when I walk up hills etc.

Any type of exercise, even just walking to town and back (max 10 minutes walk) leaves me exhausted and nauseous. I am supposed to be having another blood test for my iron count, but the midwife has not got back to me about it.

Please tell me I'm not the only one who sits on my arse most of the day (apart from when doing the school run or household chores), because I am just a complete knacker. I am going to be the size of a whale by the time this baby is born :(.

[ReshapeWhileDamp]

I do! I'm also feeling absolutely wrung-out, so much so that I'm seeing the GP tomorrow. My MW is doing the 28 wk blood tests on monday and in the meantime has supplied me with a big box of spatone, but I can't say it's made me feel any better. I do have a nasty cold, so perhaps it's that which is making me feel like lukewarm arse.

I'm not even managing to walk all the way into the village (10 min walk ). I park in the central carpark, and then do little 5 min walks to the playground, the library, etc. A visit to the nearby town, maybe going to one shop and the supermarket, or a toddler group and the supermarket, wipes me out for the rest of the day.

I wouldn't worry about being unfit - it's a time to relax, all the more so if your body is screaming at you to take it easy! I know the ideal is to do all this light exercise all day - I'd like to see the finger-waggers attempt this while wiped out, coping with an active toddler and the size of a brick outhouse.

[Samraves]

Yes, I second this... as much as it is good to be active if you can. Some people just can't. I have felt similar, low blood pressure, low iron levels, nausea etc and I am now sooo unfit. I get out of breath walking for 5 mins and walk so slowly now, I feel like an old lady

I think that although it is no ideal, some of us have no choice but to accept our limitations and concentrate on growing our babies, and worry about getting fot once we've recovered from the birth. That said I feel very useless sometimes!

[spilttheteaagain]

Oh Rocklover I'm sorry you still have the sickness

Mine has mercifully gone away but yes I too am totally inactive because I am completely exhausted (seeing GP for this on Friday).

I don't think it's entirely normal to be this tired, but if you are, you need to rest.

I am trusting in adrenalin for labour, because I will be so unfit when I get there! (18+5 today, can't remember when I last walked for more than 20 mins...)

[me23]

oh rocklover I am exactly the same though my symptoms started before my pregnancy! I get breathless and exahausted just walking up the stairs, the school run involves walking up and down a hill and I feel near to collapse when I do it.
I'm only 15 weeks but pregnancy has made it a lot worse am signed off work as I can't function properly at the moment.
My iron is low and thyroid is borderlne. Have you had thyroid tested?

[greenbeanie]

Try not to worry too much, just do what you can manage. i have always tried to be active when pregnant but this time (dc3) I have not managed it at all. At 20 weeks I was admitted to hospital and had abdominal surgery to remove an ovarian cyst as they thought that was the cause of my pain, it turned out to be kidney stones. After a 9 day stay in hospital and problems with a wound that took 10 weeks to heal, I am now 35 weeks pregnant. Any exercise has been too much, like you said a 10 minute walk is about the max, I am still anaemic from the surgery and get breathless at the slightest thing.

I have just decided to do what I can each day and hope that I feel better when the baby arrives, at the momenet rest is top of my agenda rather than exercise!!

Take care and rest when you can.

[spilttheteaagain]

me23 - how long have you been signed off? Did your doctor suggest it or did you ask? Do they think you are being a slacker if you ask to be signed off? (I am going to ask on Friday, assuming that asking doesn't turn out to be "not the done thing")

Thanks

[edeluna]

I'm much less active than I'd like to be. At 16 weeks, I'm still really tired and still feeling nauseous, especially in the evenings.

My last blood test indicated that my iron's low. I'm usually borderline aenemic, but I was hoping that the multivitamin I've been taking religiously for the past five months would have resolved that -- apparently not. So now I'm hoping an extra iron supplement might lead me to feel a bit more energetic again.

I don't think you should feel too bad about taking it easy, though. I'm new to this whole pregnancy thing, but I think it's important to listen to your body and just rest if that's what it's asking for. Granted, that's not always as easily done as it is said, I realize.

[Rocklover]

Thanks ladies, yet again you have made me feel so much better (I am posting so much at the moment and ALL of them moans).

I am really struggling with everything at the moment, including the fact that my nausea has brought my anxiety back completely. I am anxious almost all the time which makes the nausea severe, which then leads to panicking when I am out and about, which then makes me even more knackered and ill feeling.

I find it very difficult to eat a balanced diet as I have ibs and too much fruit and veg causes me to have diahorrea which is why I have low iron I presume. I am taking Spatone with orange juice to help me absorb the iron better, but even one cup of orange juice a day plays havoc with my tummy.

I suppose everything adds up and that is why I am so exhausted. I was worse with my first pregnancy as I ended up in hospital to be rehydrated, but I don't remember feeling this ill at the 22 week stage even then.

I am so happy to be pregnant, but just a bit sorry for myself that I cannot enjoy carrying my little boy.

[smoggii]

You poor thing x

I am also feeling mighty sorry for myself and frustrated at my lack of activity.

Before the pregnancy i used to walk 15 mins each way to work and back twice a day (i take a two hour lunch go home and walk the dog too) so was doing at least an hours walking everyday. I had also lost a huge amount of weight and felt good.

At the start of the pregnancy up until at least 16 weeks i was nauseous and up until now (28 weeks) absolutely exhauseted.

I started using the car from 6 weeks when i couldn't do the walk without feeling sick/dizzy and never went back to it. now I can't walk the dog for 10 mins without getting a stitch and i'm huge!

I have to believe i can right all these wrongs when DD comes along x

[Tootingbec]

Hello - just want to say that I started to feel exhausted after 10 mins walking and breathless at about 18- 20 weeks and knew from my previous pregnancy that this was related to low iron count.

Took hardcore prescription iron tablets (off the shelf supplements don't contain enough iron) and within 48 hours I felt like a different person (albeit one with black poo!)

Chivvy your midwife along or get your GP on the case as you might be surprised how quickly you will get your energy back if it turns out to be low iron.

[me23]

hi rocklover I have been signed off for 12 weeks so far, doc suggested it as obv I wasn't functioning. Also had to see doctor at occ health dept at work and he said I am clearly not fit to work at the moment, so doctors are being supportive.
I had mw appt today and my iron levels are up to normal been on 3 iron tabs a day (though hasnt made a difference to how Im feeling) also thyoid test was normal so I think I have chronic fatigue syndrome as this has been going on for months now since before pregnancy am seeing GP tomorrow and going to ask to be referred to specialist as I can't take feeling like this anymore.
I don't feel like i'M living just existing

good luck with the GP.

[me23]

sorry forgot to say ask gp to sign you off as many wont suggest it they will wait for you to ask and no they won't think you're a slacker and even if they do who care's you are the one going through this not them.

[Rocklover]

Thanks me23, sorry you are feeling so poorly. Luckily (or not) I don't have as job as I found out I was pregnant just before I moved 180 miles to be with my dp, the job situation here is dire and being pregnant I have no hope.

But on the plus side, I don't have to force myself to work all day, the school run is bad enough lol. I have offered to take my dd's friend to school tomorrow as her Mum has an all day appt in another county. She is arriving at 7am and I am having her after school for tea as well.

My dd is excited obviously, I am bit anxious about feeling poorly while she's here, but glad that dd is getting the play date she has been desperate for.

[Bumperlicious]

Don't worry rocklover I had countless needy posts when pg (still have them now baby born)!

I felt exactly the same, knackered, sick, like I really didn't have the energy. Plus my hips a ached. I cycled to work once at about 12 weeks and felt so shit I sat I the toilet & cried. I felt light headed going up the 2 flights of stairs to my desk so always got the lift.

I felt bad as I literally did no exercise the whole way through & didn't help people telling me about their wives playing badminton till they gave birth. Good for them .

The only thing I will say is with winter coming it is going to be easy to feel a bit down unless you get some daylight & fresh air so try & get out, even if it is to the nearest bench for a sit downwith a book :)

[bitingfairy]

I'm glad I'm not the only one. I'm 23 weeks and have been struggling since about 6 weeks. My hyperemesis is better in that I'm only sick once a day, but I'm nauseated and exhausted all of the time. Feeling like a useless whale. I think mine is a combination of nausea and sedation from my anti sickness medication but I can't stop taking it or I feel even more dreadful.

Am beginning to worry about getting even bigger and less fit, so have ordered a yoga dvd in the hope it will motivate me to move a little bit (or maybe I'll sit on the sofa watching it!) I'm lucky in that I work from home and it's quiet atm, my hubby does the school run and has been doing most of the household things as I just haven't been able, but it does make me feel pretty useless. I'm even breathless walking up the stairs. I'm on a countdown now - I've been ill for 17 weeks and I have 17 to go.