Beyond tired at 8 weeks.. help!

[bwSB]

I am 8 weeks pregnant tomorrow & I have been sooooo tired it’s hard to function!! I can easily sleep 10-12 hours a night & still need a few hours on the couch during the day! I can’t face getting ready & leaving the house is this normal? Could I be anaemic?

It's very common early on as it's hormonal but it does massively improve!

Yes I found this very hard. Looking back, I was anaemic during my pregnancies and exhausted. Each person is different, you may not be anaemic but understandably exhausted as your body is trying to cope with doubling the blood volume and supplying baby with sufficient nutrients. You come last !

Having a good serve of protein at every meal and including iron rich foods will help you feel better, unless you already do ?

Is it an option to force yourself out of bed and have protein rich breakfast? Do you like boiled or poached eggs for breakfast on wilted spinach?

Maybe pre-prepare your favourite protien rich sandwiches and wraps and take to work, , such as chicken and avo sandwiches or roast beef wraps or chicken BLT wraps? Can you keep some boiled eggs and sliced cheese handy in refrigerator to grab? See GP in case there is something adding to your extreme tiredness symptoms Hope you feel better soon

Thanks for all the advice! I normally love poached eggs but read that you shouldn’t have them when pregnant? I have my booking appointment with the midwife this week so going to say to her then, she will do all my bloods so I assume if I’m anaemic they’ll let me know!

Thank you so much xx

Pregnancy exhaustion is so unbelievably debilitating! I'll never forget it. All you can do is rest, it should lift a bit around week 12 but just mind yourself in the mean time!

I've had this for all 5 pregnancies - honestly, it should pass (though if it doesn't of course do go to doctor). Poached eggs are now OK (advice recently changed) as long as eggs are lion-marked or the yolks are fully hard.

I had a really high iron count but still felt beyond exhausted in the first trimester. It lifted pretty much as soon as the clock ticked over into the first day of my second trimester! Second trimester was lovely, hopefully you feel better soon.

I felt super tired for the first trimester. Second I felt great. Now 37 weeks and pretty tired again although third trimester insomnia is mostly responsible for that. You will feel better soon though hopefully.

There's nothing that particularly helps, but it is normal and it does pass, you gain more energy around the 2nd trimester. All 3 of mine have wiped me out and left DP confused and me explaining because "I'm not big and heavy yet, why am I tired"

Totally normal as others have said. Also, I lived on runny poached eggs for the first twelve weeks of pregnancy! Current advice (although it wasn't then but I didn't care!) is red lion stamped eggs are fine.

NHS egg advice:

www.nhs.uk/conditions/pregnancy-and-baby/foods-to-avoid-pregnant/

You're fine! 🍳

Yeah completely common! I had this up until 20 weeks. Still more tired than before I was pregnant at 25 weeks but yeah, all normal! Just drink plenty of water, sleep when you can and maintain a good night routine.

Thanks everyone for all your amazing advice! Especially with the eggs as I love a poached egg lol! It’s so hard to rest as I work 12 hour shifts as a nurse & the switch from nights & days is a killer! Only got a few more weeks until the first trimester is over so hopefully will be perked up again soon! xx