I am so tired.
This thought is going through my head all day, every day lately. I’m tired when I get up; all day long; and every evening. At work, after seeing patients, trying to slog through charting, I have to stop typing mid-sentence and just rest my brain. Maybe slouch, sit back in the chair, let my eyes flutter a bit… then with a nauseated oomph sit straight back up and try to concentrate on the page in front of me. I dream of a quick nap… What if there’s an empty exam room with a table for a quick snooze? But the idea of someone walking in on me ruins it, and I muster up some kind of energy to get through another day.
At our providers’ meeting this week, the topic was treatment of insomnia. We all sat in a darkened room to watch a patient video on non- pharmacologic treatment of insomnia. In the video, some patients were interviewed on their experience with cognitive behavioral therapy. It showed them, at first, tossing and turning in bed, drinking wine, surfing the computer, watching TV, all sorts of bad sleep habits… then they cut to the sleep therapist talking about the healthy changes they encourage patients to make, with positive sleep thoughts, clean bedtime habits, regular set bedtimes, etc etc. and then they cut back to the patients, in PJs, in quiet darkened rooms, getting into their warm soft fluffy beds, and sleeping like babies… That video killed me, even the music was soporific. I was especially exhausted the rest of the day.
I joked about this to a colleague, who told me that when she was pregnant, and at work, she would get so tired that she dreamed of going to her car in the parking garage and sleeping there. I laughed, but then I thought about that too…
I figured this excessive daytime fatigue was due to being 7 months pregnant and having a toddler at home, but when I told my OB about it, and she wanted to check a CBC and thyroid function… I was grateful. Maybe there’s something here that can be treated, I thought. But no, the numbers were perfect, stellar. And I’m eating well. I’m taking my prenatal. I go to bed at like, 9 pm. I walk a fair amount- I have to park so amazingly far away from work, I get about 2 miles a day of (very slow) walking in on my workdays, which for a big pregnant lady, is plenty of exercise. So, it comes down to being tired because I’m 7 months pregnant and have a toddler at home. Oh well…
Don’t get me wrong, I am very grateful that I am pregnant, at my age, without fertility treatments; and that I’ve got this really cute little boy just started to talk and walk… It’s wonderful really, we are incredibly blessed.
But still, I am just so tired
With pregnancy #2 I brought a beach blanket to my office and took mini-naps on the floor (with door closed and locked). I felt so blessed to have a carpeted floor and a lock. And I got my midwife to get me a handicapped card so that I could escape the 3 flights of outdoor stairs between my regular parking spot and my office (yes, I had constant Brackston Hicks on the stairs, but no, I wasn’t actually worried about early labor, since I had had the same “irritable uterus” with my first). I say, take anything you can get, and don’t worry about whether it’s officially sanctioned. Normal workdays aren’t always compatible with pregnancy, so if you can possibly get away with any shortcuts, go for it. Hopefully our daughters won’t have to feel like they are cheating when they adjust work to accommodate their reproductive lives.
So lucky that you had your own office… i share one… so far so good with stairs, though i often cheat and take the elevator.
Yes, work would be an easier thing to navigate if one could just LIE DOWN for a few minutes!! amazing concept!
I think your physician should screen you for depression. Just my $0.25…
This I have considered also, PJ, but the only symptom thus far is this profound fatigue, which seems to be fairly normal for someone in this condition and situation… Fair suggestion, though, and one I diagnose in others every single day.
Oh my, but I can relate. I am also in my second pregnancy (any day now!) with a toddler at home & working full time. I actually cried a few times because I was so exhausted (mostly on weekend, when I really really wanted to be present & active with my son but just physically couldn’t do it). I did talk to my OB and they did the routine TFTs and CBC and turned out I was a bit anemic, but extra iron hasn’t really helped the fatigue any. Depression is always on the differential, but I also had no other symptoms; though the exhaustion & lack of my usual energy was making me sad in and of itself!
Since this is definitely worse than my last pregnancy, I am chalking it up to the extra stress on my body from 2 pregnancies within 2 years of each other (and if I recall, yours are even closer together than mine, my LMP for this one was on my son’s first birthday). I really hadn’t gotten back to my pre-pregnancy level of fitness yet, I was going to focus on that as we started TTC #2 but never really got the chance before the nausea and exhaustion set in at 5 weeks. Funny, it took 2 years and fertility treatments for #1, pregnant first time trying–though did take clomid–for #2, I KNOW how lucky I am.
Hang in there, you are getting very close! I have had a few random bursts of energy at the end here, but now also dealing with insomnia from the discomfort & the all night dance party going on in my belly. Good thing I’ve really wound down work, I had a lot of pre-term contractions and figured I’d go early, but its all stopped now!
THANKS and the best of luck with your second delivery!
My babies were 15 months apart. During my second pregnancy I actually fell asleep in my car in the doctor’s parking lot one evening. I just laid my head on the steering wheel for just a minute….You’re not depressed or sick and you’re gonna be OK