Reassurance 8 weeks feeling terrible 😑

[croft85]

Hello
I’m 8 weeks pregnant finally with my first after a long and upsetting ivf journey and I just feeling completely dreadful. I had NO idea it would make me feel like this.
We saw a strong heartbeat at a 7 week scan and I have another scan soon with my ivf clinic so praying everything ok.
I feel extremely exhausted - currently lying in bed at 8:30am unable to get up as so tired. I feel sick (not being sick) - I only feel like eating fruit and crisps. I feel weak, achy, headachy, hungover, sometimes dizzy, always thirsty, I have insomnia. It’s been like this for 2 weeks. Does anyone else feel like this?
Two weeks ago when it started my office decided to suddenly announce people needed to go back in the office after Covid, I mean wow the timing. I sit there like a zombie it’s really not pleasant.
I feel so grateful I’m not actually vomiting, I really feel for you ladies that do :( but it’s the intense hungover grogginess and aches I’m struggling with.
Would love to hear if others feel/felt the same and when it eased.
It’s making me down in the dumps and I feel like I want to be happy...
Thank you ❤️
Xxxxxxxxxxx

Sending lots of strength, it’s the worst and I felt like this with all 3 of my pregnancies. This final time I declared to DH that I wouldn’t have any more children purely based on the awfulness of weeks 8-14. I don’t have loads of advice other than just to ride it out and it will pass and become a distant memory (I’ve kind of forgotten it now). Go to bed as early as you can, carry snacks with you all the time and eat little and often, I got those sickness wrist bands this time which at least made me feel like I was doing something but no idea if they worked or not.

For me it ended around 12/14 weeks each time but I think it varies person to person. Try to think of it as a good sign, it’s showing your body is doing what it needs to do to grow your baby.

I hear you! I’m 8+4 and feeling like I got hit by a bus. Nausea all day every day (no sickness so far thankfully), insomnia every night and just feeling generally run down and zombie-like. I’m on flexi-furlough and WFH 2-3 days a week and am dreading having to do more as I don’t feel like my brain is working properly.

I actually tend to feel better if I have something to do and go out as it kind of distracts me from the feeling rubbish so I’ve asked DH to force me to do things (or I won’t go) and it often does the trick for short periods.

I think we just have to ride it out but it sucks!

I’m 8+4 but since 4weeks been so tired, that tired I have fallen a sleep stood up twice! I hate feeling tired and lethargic but I know it won’t last long...well until the baby arrives then permanent tiredness 😂. Drink as much fluid as can and little an often eat. I’ve been trying to push myself through it but after a bleed a couple of days ago, I’ve told myself to take it easy.

Thanks so much @Sunshine1235 and @LuckyFlash - honestly it’s really isolating and to hear you’ve felt/are feeling the same makes me feel more at ease. It almost feels like a long flu without the head cold etc.
Good idea with the wrist bands! And you’re right Sunshine that it’s most likely a good sign, so hard to see it that way when you feel like hell though.
I also feel better if I get out, it’s the dragging myself out that’s the hard bit. I’m 8+5 so almost exactly the same as you LuckyFlash :)
About to eat melon and salt and vinegar crisps my favourite combo at the moment. Force feed myself a proper dinner with veg but I’m literally like Dawn French in vicar of dibley Christmas where she’s force feeding herself the sprouts!
Xxxxxxx

Sorry to hear you're feeling so terrible! I felt exactly the same at 8 weeks. I think that's when my nausea and exhaustion peaked. For me it got a lot better from about 11 weeks. I'm now 17 weeks and feel fairly normal.

Notthing helped me except eating regularly (even when I really didn't want to!) and getting tons of sleep.

It will get better soon!!

Yep, lived off hula hoops at that stage of both pregnancies! Felt like utter shit, exhausted like never before in my life. It’s horrible. It does pass (for me, not at the same stage in each pregnancy) and you will feel better. In the meantime just accept you need to get to bed as soon as possible, nap whenever you can and eat whatever you think will stay down. Lower your standards for a while, you can catch up on things later.

It’s awful, I was signed off work and pretty much stayed in bed for 6 weeks. All I could eat was salt and vinegar crisps and raisins (made me feel better I think because I could eat them in such tiny amounts but meant I at least at something in my stomach, on particularly bad days I was forcing myself to swallow just one).
Also, Granny Smith apples - for me they were a godsend. Don’t know why, maybe that the sharp juiciness cut through the gross nausea feeling. Whatever it was I was constantly nibbling on one.
But it does get better for most people! I was 14 weeks at Christmas and managed to eat pretty much a normal plate of Christmas dinner.

Thanks for replying I can’t believe it makes us feel this way. I think because I longed for and anticipated pregnancy for over 3 years that now it’s arrived it’s really shocked me.
Will ride with it and like you say above and take it easy - it’s the only thing to do xxx
Granny Smiths a good one, should think that helps the nauseous watery mouth feeling 😰

I remember the feeling well and ours is also a much longed for pregnancy (now 24+4) and glad to report those groggy days are now few and far between.
For the nausea - snack, snack, snack. I found slates crisps were a big help :)
And congratulations!

Thank you and congratulations to you too ☺️
Pleased to hear you’re feeling more yourself. I’m looking forward to that. It’s the kind of feeling where you can’t remember what it feels like to feel normal.

@croft85 I am exactly the same as you. 8+1 and feel completely horrendous.
This is an Ivf pregnancy too.
I have got some medicine from the dr for nausea but currently think it's making me feel worse. I'm going to call tomorrow and ask for something else.
Are you on progesterone too? I feel that that isn't helping. I just want to get to 12 weeks to see if I feel better but it feels like a lifetime away!

Hi @bunhead34 - congratulations love hearing about ivf pregnancies 😊
Yes I’m on Cyclogest pessaries but have been since egg collection so for a good few weeks. Suppose it’s possibly adding to it all isn’t it?
Really feel for you and the nausea, mine is bad but not medication bad, it’s the weakness and fluey exhaustion on top of that which I’m struggling with. I’ve just woken up from yet another nap.
12 weeks does feel like a lifetime away I agree. Was this your first ivf if you don’t mind me asking?
We had years of TTC, 3 failed IUIs but this was our first ivf and feeling very lucky (and anxious) Xx

@croft85
Oh my goodness, I feel exactly the same as you symptoms wise!
I’m 8+2 today.
Constant nausea from about 5 minutes after I wake up which gets worse and worse as the day goes on and then makes it hard for me to get to sleep. I’m also suffering from dizziness in the evenings too along with the nausea which makes me feel drunk/hungover!
I’m congested too these past couple of days as well as headaches and severe tiredness.
My fiancé came in the bathroom this morning whilst I was in the bath and said how “great this pregnancy malarkey is” because I have lay ins, long baths, lots to eat and naps. I could’ve slapped him! GREAT?! I feel like utter shite. I’m so grateful to even be pregnant but it’s physically and mentally exhausting!
So I feel your pain 100%! But it won’t be forever I suppose!

@Chicken123 My husband kept saying similar things but I think I’ve put a stop to that now ha!
Weirdly I’ve had afternoon of feeling congested suddenly too, hope it goes, don’t need that too!
The dizziness is really hard, sometimes I even have to crawl places 🥴
We’re just going to hang on in there and make our men wait on us a bit more! Xx

@croft85 yes it was my first round of Ivf.
I have heard from a couple of people and the nurse at my clinic that the progesterone can make the sickness worse.
I'm also taking Estrogen as I had a frozen transfer and that started making me feel
Sick right away a few weeks before the transfer, although not this bad!
So a big part of me is hoping I feel better after stopping these!
26 days to go not that I'm counting 🥴

First of all congratulations! I was like this to varying degrees with all my kids. Nothing can quite prepare you for the mental exhaustion of the worst first trimester. It does get better. By the end for me it was mostly physical discomfort but also by then I could feel the baby moving and everyone could see I was pregnant and I got sympathy!

Eat what you need to survive and crawl back into bed for a pity party. That's how I survived 😂

I think the closest I have come to being able to describe it properly to my DP is that it's like the most horrendous hangover every day for two months.

I had this first trimester with both my pregnancies (currently 31 weeks). It was awful and I couldn’t work, play with my toddler, cook, clean or anything. It was either bed or sofa. This pregnancy I asked for tablets as it was so debilitating. They took the edge off but it was still hell.

For me it definitely eased around week 13 or 14 and I found my energy levels increased.

It is hell but try hang in there as it should eventually get better. I tried telling myself that every moment which passed was a moment towards it easing and it would never be as far away as the day before was.

Sending hugs x

I’m in the same boat. 8 weeks today, and I’ve been exhausted and nauseous for the last two/three weeks. It’s got worse in the last few days. I’m feeling very discouraged about it, particularly the second child guilt which is being compounded by the fact that I can’t do much with my toddler right now. Only 4-8 weeks to go...

@Tropicalsquirrel I have so much awe for people who go though this and have children to look after! You can only do your best ❤️

I honestly don't think I can have any more than one kid, I know I wouldn't cope!

I feel exactly the same OP. I'm 8+2. Let's feel sorry for ourselves together!

The last few weeks I've just continuously feel sick (don't think I've had a break from it!). Averaging puking 3x a day and I had to go into work on Tuesday. Was sick as soon as I got in!

They want us all back in the office next week and I'm dreading it. I finally called in sick today. It's got too much now. Woke up with a headache due to the dehydration of it all and slept for most of the day.

Let's hope what they say is true and that it gets better from week 12. Only a month to go!

I feel the same but I’m only just 5 weeks 😩 I feel like it’s getting worse and worse every day - I feel like I’m having the worse hangover I’ve ever had and it ends. I’m getting serious anxiety about how long this will last - how do you deal with that?. Has anyone spoken to their boss about it? I’m worried about telling people too early but I’m already struggling to work whilst feeling this. Also worried that if I call the doctors I’ll just be dismissed and told to get on with it... thanks x

@bunhead34 it’s like I’d forgotten about the side effects of progesterone because it’s become a daily norm taking it but it must be exaggerating things! Never thought about thinking of it in days til 12 weeks - weeks seem sooooo long.

Yes exactly @ktsc89 like the fact we can feel sorry for ourselves together, it’s really isolating carrying on life as usual when you’re feeling horrendous and can’t tell people.

@Babino hang on in there! I’m early myself and no pro but 5 weeks seems like yesterday for me (I am 8 now). I think if it’s really tough at work, telling your boss confidently might help (explaining it’s early but you had no choice as you’re feeling so terrible) I always read about people who have told their bosses early. When you’re sick as a parrot and exhausted it’s just not feasible to do your job like you used to. OR easier... take some sick days and see how you go. It’s horrid but (apparently) it will ease xxxxxx

8 weeks today and dizzyness and sickness hit me this morning, had to stop cleaning the dishes and just sit on the kitchen floor. I decided to take the dog for a walk as Im reading a pregnancy fitness book and thats what it recommend s you to do. Came back and had very early lunch, and felt good since, went for a swim as well. The more exercise I do the beytter I feel and the more I can eat. Carrot sticks and humous are a great snack or apples as mentioned.

I feel your pain! I'm only 7 weeks and I've started vomiting. I've spent the last week lying on the sofa or in bed with what feels like an endless hangover. We've been trying to concieve for over 3 years and this is my first pregnancy with the help of IVF. I want to feel happy/excited but I just feel so so sick. I literally said to my husband tonight "I can't believe I've done this to myself." I'm really hoping that it's the Cyclogest and pessaries that make it worse and that I can come off them soon.