can pregnancy really make you feel this shite?

[planche]

Full disclaimer, I have health anxiety so struggle a lot with keeping things in perspective. I am 22 weeks pregnant with my second (a good 9 years after my first!) and this time round pregnancy has been awful - horrendous sickness (I didn't vomit once with my first), heartburn from 6 weeks on the dot, fatigue, just generally feeling crap. The second trimester "burst of energy" has yet to appear. I feel less nauseous than I did before 16 weeks and I don't vomit any more (or only very occasionally) but my stomach still feels totally out of kilter, as in:

1. Days of very soft poo (not diarrhea) followed by a couple of days of the opposite;
2. Heartburn that doesn't burn in my chest but in my throat coupled with a horrible acidic sick feeling in the pit of my stomach - I take omeprazole which definitely helps the burn but it doesn't get rid of all the symptoms by a long stretch.
3. still finding certain foods don't taste right - onions and garlic in particular which I loved pre pregnancy I find just don't sit right any more.
4. Knackered all the time. I take an afternoon nap most days. And I work from home and have an older child so it's not like I'm commuting or running round all day after a toddler.

Bloods are all fine, I'm not anaemic. This time last year I was having a load of stomach issues which I'd never had before so I had the standard run of tests (FIT test, calprotectin, full blood count etc) and everything was 100% fine, then it all seemed to abate until week 6 of pregnancy and hasn't really gone away since.

The GP took some bloods last week and everything was fine except for my CRP which was elevated at 15, but he said that wasn't particularly high and I was probably just fighting off a cold or something (previously when I'd had blood tests last year my CRP was around 3 I think).

Is this all just pregnancy related? I'm getting freaked out there's something else going on which will be dismissed because I'm pregnant, but I do recognise that's probably the health anxiety talking, as these symptoms did come on bang on 6 weeks and I'd been fine for months before.

This is how I felt in all my pregnancies! Just felt ill for 9 months, stomach was never right. Heartburn, knackered… I felt so much better after the births!

It's knocked me for six a bit because I honestly breezed through pregnancy the first time round. I suppose I am nearly ten years older this time though!

Yes! But it's worth it. I was exhausted and sick for 5 months. A month of fine and then the last 2 months of heartburn and discomfort

I had a couple of weeks where I did feel better and then it all went to shit again!

I see all these other pregnant women doing intensive exercise, going on trips etc and I just think christ all I want to do is sleep!!

That's pretty much how I felt both times I was pregnant. It's crap. I was hospitalised on/off for a couple of months with hyperemisis both times.

Whoever came up with this idea that you glow in the second trimester was definitely talking out of their arse IMO.

Pregnant at 30 vs pregnant at 35 have been very different experiences with me!! Felt a lot like you and have put it down to age!

Pregnancy for me was like a 40 week hangover. I didn't glow. I couldn't stomach any food, I was sick several times a day regardless of if I'd managed to eat anything or not, I lost weight, I was hospitalised. Its not always the warm fuzzy pictures they use in the adverts! It definitely needs normalising. I felt so guilty that this thing I had hoped amd dreamed for was, to be totally honest, severely affecting my mental health.

Take it easy OP

I felt crap for the entirety of my first pregnancy , vomiting daily , constant nausea and fainting regularly . The second one I was hospitalised with vomiting 5 x had a brief respite for a few weeks at around 25 weeks and then it all went downhill for the last 5/6 weeks with more vomiting.

Every pregnancy is different. I sailed through my last one at age 36 but when I was pregnant at 25 I felt like death for the entire 9 months. No rhyme or reason to it.

Yes.

I had a completely shit pregnancy, hospitalised multiple times with hyperemesis.

No positives to it at all.

My nausea hasn't felt like motion or seasickness. It's felt like extreme hunger without actually feeling hungry. It's so gross.

I was exactly the same throughout mine, morning sickness for first trimester, I wish. It was all day for 9 months. And I dread to think how much gaviscon I drank for the heartburn. I cannot remember at any point being glowing and energetic. Try and quell your anxiety because you'll end up with high blood pressure which I had and it's fucking awful. Good luck💐

I agree with PPs who have mentioned how feeling totally awful in pregnancy needs normalising. Too often I feel the less desirable affects of pregnancy are muted to make way for how "beautiful, powerful, strong, glowing" women can be whilst growing babies. We're also often told how fortunate and lucky we are to be able to grow children (which of course is incredibly true), but as a result I think the negatives get sidelined/aren't really given the respect they deserve!

I'm currently 37 weeks with my second - have had HG throughout (again), despite having olive skin I've spent the last 9 months looking pastel green, feel nauseous and vomit every day, have developed a million spider veins all over the place, am exhausted and like you have an older child so don't have the excuse of a toddler running me ragged.

It's all totally normal... I can't wait to get this one out and be done with it all though 😅

Even the NHS website says of the second trimester "at this point, all your symptoms are probably feeling much better!"