Any experiences with fibromyalgia/chronic fatigue and pregnancy? What was labour like?

[Cagliostro]

DCs are 9 and 7, I wasn't ill when I had them. Now 13 weeks with surprise (big surprise although a happy one!) baby #3. Baby doing well so far and I'm fine other than feeling sick and more tired.

MW and consultant have been so reassuring about the birth, saying my body knows what to do (two relatively simple unassisted deliveries). Not to medicalise what is a natural process that I've done twice before.

But I'm still scared! If it was only a couple of years since my last birth then I'd probably be ok but it seems like forever ago and I just can't imagine doing it again (perhaps I'd still feel like that even without the health issues!).

And my body is just so pathetically weak now. I certainly have a much higher pain tolerance now, but I'm so feeble, I can't imagine being strong enough to push a person out of me this time!

I've started managing a little more walking so hoping to do that more and start prenatal yoga/pilates kind of exercise too.

If they said nope we're not risking it let's go for ELCS, I'd say fine. But I know that's a massive deal and maybe recovering from surgery would actually be even worse for me given my crap immune system.

Anyone been through pregnancy/birth with chronic illness?

I'm 30 weeks with first so I can't help with the labour bit! I have CFS and know that my consultant/midwife didn't suggest elective caesarean as an option as major surgery is way more traumatic to recover from than regular birth. I've been advised to take all pain relief options, epidural especially as it will be less physically draining/less likely to trigger CFS afterwards.

Yiu might find your symptoms lessen during pregnancy, which is a nice perk. I've definitely had less episodes of it during pregnancy so far.

Hi im v similar to you! Have 2 dcs aged 9 and 6 and wasnt ill. Now 28 weeks and have fibro!. Tbh its been hell ive now come off all my meds (inc buprenorphine patches) and the pain is horiffic. Im using both walking sticks and am even more exhausted. My body is not reacting well to peegnancy, bloods gone into overdrive. I also have developed Gest . Diabetes this time round. I cant say i looking forward to looking after a little one as i simply cannot move sometimes. The house is a tip as i cant cope and DH is at work a lot. How are you finding it so far?

I have a neurological disorder which causes paralysis and fatigue. A month after this happened in 2010 I got pregnant.

Thanks all!

Congratulations pancakes and betty :)
Raspberry if you don't mind me asking how was pregnancy for you?

I was wondering about the pain easing as there's that relaxin hormone. But I'm also really worried about when I have a bump to carry. I'm so unfit.

So far nausea has been the only real issue - it's absolutely constant unlike previous pregnancies and it's really getting to me. I'm also incredibly sleepy but that might be due to medication change - I was on amitriptyline but had to come off it, I'm sleeping much better now. Pain hasn't been so bad yet, although I'm struggling with getting up in the night to pee frequently!

I'm high risk of GD as well as my BMI is higher now. Also DC2 was 11lb 14oz at birth :o (11 days late but still!) and had low blood sugar, at the time the doctors said it may be because I had developed GD late in pregnancy (having had the test at 28wks which was clear). So this time I'm apparently having the GTT at 24wks and will have it repeated later if it's clear. Also I am having 3 growth scans because of the huge baby history, but I'm happy with that :)

House a tip here too! Really hope the nausea eases soon.

Very glad my DCs are older, they are quite independent at home and help out a lot with laundry etc. Was enough of a struggle with 2 under 3 without any illness in the mix... think DH may get the snip to prevent that!

Hi, I have fibro and cfs. I've had one labour and it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I've had two csections as well, they were awful after with the pain but they give you extra pain killers.
With the labour I only had two paracetamol the whole time.
I've found during my pregnancies, the pain had eased a little. At the end the heaviness made it more difficult for me to stand for extended periods and I had to take more breaks to cope with it.
It's been 7 years since I was pregnant and my fibro had progressed a lot since then so this pregnancy is proving a little more difficult. My hands and wrists have flared this last week and my back is breaking. Not being able to take my regular meds hasn't helped either.
I was on pregabalin, naproxen, and various pain killers.
Dd's both had low birth weights at just over 6lbs, I have a septated uterus which restricts growth according to my consultant too. Risk of gd this time for me too as I'm slightly plumper than I was.

Do you find pregnancy symptoms and fibro symptoms can be quite similar? I can't decide what my aches are caused by half the time!

Op it is likely that you will be consultant led now anyway because of the medical probs. Ive been havijg growth scans and am booked in to have scans weekly now + cons appt. Baby appears to be on the small side. I just think that pregnancy with CFS/Fibro is more difficult. They dont really know a huge amount about Fibro medically (bot sure about cfs) so its quite hit and miss. Bit like pain clinic! The hormone relaxin has helped in someways I think but not in others. For example my hip and leg keep giving way now far more often than before pregnancy. Im currently breech and hoping she will shift but very stuck in pos atm. However there has been no indication so far that If she does change pos that i cant go for a vaginal birth. However they have agreed to induce/csec me early anyway at 37 weeks as im struggling with the weight/off balance and last DC was a 24 min labour start to finish.
both fibro and preg symptoms are so similar you are never quite sure whats what. Or how much your body is exacerbating it!

I am consultant led anyway although my lovely MW wants to see me regularly too.

However this week I saw the consultant I was referred to and she isn't going to keep seeing me. She's referred me to a high bmi consultant (happy with that as I expected it) but she's not concerned about the health issues I have, just said it would probably mean more pain etc. But that there's no reason to worry in a medical sense, she was happy because things like my kidneys and heart are fine.

I have a diagnosis of POTS too which basically means I get raised heart rate and low BP on standing, but she wasn't worried about that either because I don't see a cardiologist (long messed up story as to why not 😡) - but obviously they will be checking my BP regularly anyway and so far it's been normal

Having been reading the new MN campaign thread about postnatal care I'm also freaking out about what happens directly after the birth!

Anxiety is absolutely raging this time though, I was close to panic attack before my dating scan because I am so convinced something will go wrong this time because of my health issues (and increased weight). I've seen baby three times now but I still almost can't let myself believe it's happening!