One EXTREMELY tired, vegetarian at 21 weeks - PLEASE HELP!!

[Itstime222]

Hi,

My wife is 21 weeks pregnant with our first child, and she is really suffering with tiredness. As in she can hardly move and is feeling pretty rough all the time. She didn't get any morning sickness and we do have quite active lives, but today for example she wasn't sure if she could drive the 30 minute to work! Does anyone happen to know if this is normal - I know you can be a lot more tired if you are pregnant, but this just seems really extreme.

One other thing worth mentioning is that she is a vegetarian or pesketarian (eats fish) - I don't know if that might be contributing to it?

Is there any additives or supplements she can take to help? All she is currently taking is pregnacare..

Thanks for your help in advance.

:-)

Does she eat a balanced diet, or is she so knackered that she's not eating / eating rubbish.

I am veggie and you can go through pregnancy with a healthy veggie diet but tbh it does need a bit of thought to make sure you get what you need.

If she is feeling that bad, she should poss see a doctor.

She needs her bloods checked.

I went through my first pregnancy 20 years ago as a vegetarian. During my second pregnancy 17 years ago I didn't manage, I felt tired and craved meat, roast chicken actually. I didn't feel able to provide what my body needed any more without reverting to eating meat, which I did half way through. I felt my body was telling me one thing was missing. It sounds like she needs to take one advice and get checked out.

Hey, thanks for the prompt replies. I tend to do all the food and im trying to keep it fresh and quite good - we have chickens so she has eggs for breakfast or granola, then a salad for lunch at work normally and a healthy (ish) dinner, normally fish or some sort of quorn concoction. IscreamforIcecram - as a vegetarian, is there anything you could recommend we try or any foods which you found were really good? Gamerchick she actually had he bloods tested a few times and all was cool...

Thanks mrsrhodgilbert - Ive suggested that to her, ill chuck in my carnivorous tendencies for the duration and she can eat my ration of meat - that was a no :-)

I would get her bloods taken she may well be anaemic which happens.

Your diet sounds quite low fat tbh and quorn is highly processed, which is not to say there is anything wrong with having it but I wouldn't every night. Low fat again and some day is important to absorb vitamins.

What salad leaves do you both eat? Could you throw in some baby spinach leaves and toasted pine nuts?

Would she eat a curry with spinach in?

This may seem a silly question but how much in the way of veges do you eat .

I'm veggie and have done a singleton and triplet pregnancy staying completely meat and fish free. Keep up with the oily fish and look for foods that are rich in iron, as her levels may start to dip at this point. Vitamin C helps with the absorption of iron so a glass of fresh orange juice with a meal would be good. Drinking tea with a meal isn't so good as tannin can affect iron absorption. Make sure that she's getting enough fluid too, as being pregnant in this heat isn't funny. I would recommend she gets her iron levels checked.

Hi Gileswithachainsaw, well - at the weekends - we eat plenty of fat! Nuts, the odd curry etc. With regards to bloods and anaemia - she has been tested twice and it came back all clear both times so im hoping that isn't it.

Veg wise, we eat absolutely shed loads! All green (well normally anyway) but more than a family of 5 would eat!! I'm a big fan so green veg is the main part of our diet!! :-)

I am vegetarian and my 20 wk bloods showed I was anaemic which I already suspected as I was shattered. I have been taking 2 spatone iron sachets a day with fresh orange juice to help absorption and feel much better now.ay be worth a try. When did she last have her bloods done? Mine were fine at 8 weeks but anaemic by 20 weeks.

I do apologise of that question offended, just it was unclear from the information you had posted at the time and I've met a few vegetarians that didn't like vegetables :o

How much does your wife actually eat? Is she too tired to eat much by tea time? Could having tea earlier help?

It could be it's nothing to do with diet or pregnancy at all. How's her work going is anything bothering her? Could she have some kind of antenatal depression? Is she anxious about becoming a parent?

I think it might be worth talking to her and finding out if she's worried or upset about something as depression can cause extreme tiredness

Ha ha it takes a lot more than that to offend me, and I in turn apologise if my reply seemed defensive - didn't mean to at all. I just meant that we eat an insane amount of green veg - you honestly wouldn't believe it! I don't, and I eat it!

Nope she eats plenty and is quite happy - we talk about it quite a lot and she is really excited. Work wise she is actually in a really good job for her so it shouldn't be that. Hmmmmmm tricky.

Is tiredness not just a normal thing for pregnancy then?

Southpaws, that is much appreciated and really interesting. I think the last bloods was probably at 12 weeks - so ill push that. We have 2 scans later this week and a midwife next week so I might ask them. Is there any other signs or any other way apart from a blood test that you know of?

It could well be that she is anaemic. A couple of veggie friends of mine started eating free range chicken when they were pregnant because they couldn't get enough iron from purely veggie sources, and didn't want to take supplements.

You say that you lead active lives. If her bloods are fine and she's getting appropriate nutrition perhaps it's just time to slow down a bit. Is she napping and going to bed an hour earlier than usual? If not, then maybe it's time she did.

When pregnant the first time I would sleep from 5.30-7 after getting in from work, then from 10pm-7am every night, much more than I'd usually need. This was with a stressful job but a not very physical lifestyle. With a more energetic lifestyle I'd probbaly have needed more. Growing a person is a tiring job!

Get her blood done, QUICKLY

Also what about Is she eating any of the following?
Pulses and Legumes?
Whole Wheat?
Full fat milk?

Other than the eggs and fish in the evenings what are her protein source for the rest of the day / normally?

How much water is she drinking?

Try something like this.

Egg´s and Granny or whole wheat toast for breakfast
Mid morning - handful of nuts (if she normally eats them) and raisins. Or a homemade nut bar, or granola and yogurt.
lunch - humus, with bean salad and a whole wheat roll
Mid afternoon - hand full of dried apricots
Evening meal - Poached Salmon with green veggies and brown rice
Evening snack - humus, babaganoush and olives served with pitta and fresh vegetable crudités.

Eating more often and getting pulses, legumes and whole wheat into her diet should help.

We'll doesn't sound like she's depressed then. You guys sound pretty happy :)

Tiredness is normal but If it's anaemia she will be very tired, feel light headed and dizzy. Possibly look very pale.

Possible feel very shaky and tire very easily.

I had it. I looked like crap. Ended up on iron tablets. Definately ask for another test.

Look under her lower eyelids: if they are noticably paler than yours then she may be anaemic.

Hi Momb - I think that's the problem. By quite active, I mean very! We walk a lot, exercise quite a lot, and normally wake up at 6am and keep going till 10pm - I think that's part of the problem. Although saying that she lays in at the weekend.

Newnameforanewstart - thanks a lot for that, that's really useful. Maybe a bit of a shake up of the diet is needed..

Sounds like she's overdoing it then. She needs to start slowing down. I'm not pregnant and I'd be knackered with the amount you both do!

You have perfectly described me pregnant and anaemic. Definitely worth checking that out.

Midwife here. She sounds knackered for perfectly normal reasons. You say how active you are which is normally great but remember, her body is actually doing another full time job at the moment so of course she's tired. Secondly, it is normal to have a drop in your haemoglobin levels in the second trimester due to the increased blood volume causing a dilution of the circulating haemoglobin. This is called haemodilution and will correct itself naturally as the pregnancy progresses, especially with a good diet. Generally the levels are routinely checked at about 28 weeks which will be fine. Taking something like Spatone or Floradix won't hurt if you want to be sure she's getting plenty of iron, but it sounds as if she eats a great diet.

Of course it's possible she's just a bit unwell. If she's too tired to drive to work, I'd suggest a few days off to rest. Then if still just as tired a GP appointment. People sometimes forget that they can get normal viruses etc. generally listening to your body is the best idea. If it's screaming with fatigue, give it a rest.

If there are no specific pregnancy concerns I'd give her a decent rest and see if she feels better in a few days.

Hope that helps

I did a twin pregnancy as a pescatarian, no problems and big babies at the end (7 lbs each at 37 weeks).

Peanut butter on toast and cheese on toast were my favourite snacks - if her diet is good, it won't be the lack of meat that is the problem.

She does need to get her bloods checked. To check for anaemia.

I went through 4 pregnancies as a lacto-veg (no fish for me!) and had no anaemia at all. After the births I was anaemic but the births were a bit 'messy'. but few weeks on iron and my usual diet and I was back on track quickly. So, with care, it can be done. I ate nuts despite the guidance suggesting pg women with allergies should be cautious. My feeling was I needed something if I was avoiding meat and fish. None of us have nut allergies, luckily.

Also, as others have said, the heat is extreme just now - so that will be making her more tired. Drinking water does help, I find. My first baby was born in late August of a very hot summer and it was definitely more tiring than later ones who were born in cooler weather. Despite the exhaustion of having several toddlers and little people to care for too.

Just read your description of your 'exercise' habit!! I think she needs to rest more. In the hot weather of my first pregnancy I was needing a siesta. I was working FT nights as a nurse, and needed this on my days off. Work was grim due to tiredness. Even if not sleeping she needs to physically lie down, IMO. If she works regular hours, unlike me, she maybe needs a rest after work. Is she doing a lot of gym time? She maybe needs to reduce it a bit - fewer days per week, shorter sessions. Likewise, weekend walks. Just reduce them a bit. Then see if all that helps. It's good to be active in pregnancy but you do need to slow the pace a bit.