Semi Update....Thank you! I'm probably just "normal"....

[bisous]

Thank you for all the responses. I got a return call from my OB that was extremely reassuring on Friday. He assured me first of all that my BP (just taken last week) was not just good but excellent. I think my biggest fear was a sudden onset of pre-e. I'm going to continue to watch for that and I also have a nice list to bring into the OB when I see him early next week. I am going to ask him about thyroid, asthmas, MVP, and anemia as well to rule out any possibilities.

Yesterday was much better than Thursday and your responses helped me understand that the fatigue, the lack of energy, the windedness are all probably "normal" for this phase of my pregnancy. (My baby is actually breech right now so his head is probably a little higher than it should be and up there pressing on my diaphragm). I particularly appreciated Radosti's comments because I'm remembering that that was exactly my pregnancy last time around. Severe edema but no pre-e. My DH was kind enough to remind me that towards the end of my pregnancy last time I had trouble walking from my apartment to the car because my legs were so swollen. And Thursday, when I felt so awful? I was attempting a powerwalk at 12:00 noon in Southern California in Late May. It was a hot and humid day--no wonder I felt a little wilted, lol!

I also think that my body was gearing up for a little summer cold. Last night I had the sniffles and this morning I have a full blown cold. I guess I should just listen to my body when it says to slow down.

Sorry for the long update, I really just wanted to thank everyone who contributed. It was extremely reassuring to read your words and listen to your counsel. DH asked me to call my IRL friends and ask them how they felt. I explained to them I knew a better source of info!

Thanks again!


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Honestly, I don't know what is wrong with me. I can't remember feeling this way with my first pregnancy but then I think I've blocked a lot of it out. I'm just wondering if it is "normal" to feel so crappy during one phase of pregnancy and just fine during others.

I just left a message with my OB to call me but I wanted to see if you ladies have any BTDT advice for me so I'll be prepared to handle his return call.

I am 32 weeks pg. Up until about 4 weeks ago I felt GREAT all the time. No complaints, I slept well, never felt tired, etc. Now I have "good days" and "bad days" and the bad days are getting much more frequent. On bad days, I feel completely and totally without any energy. I'm trying to stay fit this pregnancy and it literally takes everything that I've got to make myself go walking. I don't feel good while I'm doing it either--I get majorly winded and just try to power through it the whole time. Outings with my 3 yo are pure torture because I just don't have the strength or energy to keep up with my little guy. On Monday (which was an especially bad day) I was getting winded reading books to my DS. He ended up watching a record 4 full length Disney movies in one day but it was all I could do to cope with the exhaustion and the trouble breathing.

Additionally, I'm having some weird crampy pains in my abdomen. These are not BH because those don't usually hurt. Instead it feels like something is ripping or tearing and the pain is intense and then goes away. I'm also terribly edemic despite my best efforts to drink water and follow all of the steps you guys outlined. My first thoughts are pre-eclampsia because of the swelling and light-headedness but I just had an appointment with my OB last week and BP was considered normal.

What I'm wondering from you folks if it is normal to feel a degradation like this? Is my poor little body just tired out and telling me to slow down or is something amiss? My own internal mommy clock alerted me enough to at least ask the Dr but I'm open to the possibility that being a full-time mom to a 3yo is just much more exhausting than I realized.

Any BTDT advice would be welcomed.

Jen

Oh. Also, some days I'm just fine with no problems whatsoever. Like Saturday I spent all day at the LA Zoo (from 10:00 to closing), was on my feet and walking around all day with no trouble or discomfort. What could cause this day to day fluctuation?

TIA

[megs4413]

hormones....

have you had your thyroid levels checked recently? some women have thyroid issues toward the end (like me) even if you don't have thyroid issues when you're not pregnant...

i hope you feel better soon!

[mudder17]

What did your OB say about these symptoms? The breathing difficulty reminds me of what I have--mitral valve prolapse. It wasn't diagnosed until my pregnancy, though and my cardiologist said that's quite normal. I've probably always had MVP, but it was asymptomatic until the stresses of this pregnancy (I didn't have symptoms with my first pregnancy). My symptom was mostly feeling like I was having trouble breathing, but there are other symptoms such as racing heartbeat or irregular heartbeat or pain. It was intermittent and some days gave me more trouble than others.

One other thought occurs to me--could the baby be pushing against your lungs/diaphragm, making it harder to breathe? It could fluctuate depending on the position of the baby.

I don't know about your other symptoms, but one thing I would suggest is maybe journaling your symptoms and then sharing it with your doctor.


Eileen

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[Tondi G]

A couple of thoughts

Have you been checked recently to see if you are Iron deficient??? I was just mildly anemic...showing up borderline and it left me feeling WIPED OUT!

The breathing trouble could just very well be baby taking up a whole lot more space in your abdomen and restricting your lungs.

Just running around and caring for a 3 year old could be the factor that you didn't have the first time around. My first pregnancy was so textbook and easy but my 2nd one really kicked my butt. I was sick the first tri, 2nd tri I got every cold/sinus infection under the sun cause my lovely 3 year old was bringing it all home and my 3rd tri DS was so low in my pelvis and pressing on my bladder for the last 8 weeks I felt like I had a bladder infection and had horrible pain the last 4 weeks in my bones.... I felt like I had been riding a horse for days! I had good days and bad days too!

Ahhh the joys of pregnancy!

Checking in with your OB is probably the best bet to make sure there isn't anything going on that they can tell but chances are it is just normal pregnancy symptoms that you didn't have the first time around or just weren't so apparent! Don't feel bad about your kiddo watching a bunch of tv/dvds.... sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do to get through the rough times!

Good Luck

~Tondi
Mommy to Mason 7/8/01 and Aidan 5/4/05

[chlobo]

I'm just shy of 31 weeks and I can tell you that I also get totally wiped out much easier than before. And suddenly, my abdomen feels wicked crowded, like the baby had this huge growth spurt last week and now its crowding all of my organs. And, I feel like I've suddenly gotten huge.

Can't comment about the pain thing or the windedness. I think that's definitely worth a call to the ob.

[mommyoftwo]

The breathing problems could be asthma. It's not uncommon to develop asthma during pregnancy. It usually will resolve itself once your pregnancy is over. It could just be possitional difficulties with the baby as well, but's worth getting it checked out just in case. I developed severe asthma during my pregnancy with Amelia which unfortunately never went away and actually ended up in the emergency room with a severe asthma attack when pregnant with Linnea.

[Alice523]

I felt like you are describing once I hit 36 weeks with my DS. I felt amazingly good up until that point and then wham - my feet hurt nonstop, I was exhausted, I was gaining 10lbs of water weight per week, etc. I couldn't get up our stairs. I kept thinking I had to be crazy because other women were still working full time at 36 weeks.

I ended up with pre-e on my due date. They should have diagnosed it sooner because my BP was sky high for weeks, there was protein in my urine for a few weeks, etc, but they gave it the benefit of the doubt until my 40 week appt, at which point I they induced me. I was also anemic earlier in the pregnancy, which wiped me out way too much for the second trimester. Once I started iron supplements, the exhaustion went away. I felt like they were happy pills because I felt so good. :)

It sounds like you're already doing something about it. It definitely won't hurt to get checked out. I wish you luck and hope you can get more comfortable for the last stretch of your pregnancy.

[Radosti]

I drank water all the time and had major pitted edema (pushing on my skin would make it look like memory foam). I did not have any pre-eclampsia. I was basically drowning in my own fluids. There was so much fluid retention that it bloated all of my tissues, inside and out. Whatever space was available for my lungs was being squeezed out by fluid. My OB suggested many things - like compression socks for my feet/legs, raising my legs to let the fluid drain out (I had about 20 lbs of water retained in each leg). He eventually said that he does not feel comfortable putting me on a diuretic, but told me to drink one coffee every day. I think he told me that at 32 weeks because I was becoming painful to look at and I was intensely unfomfortable.

And yes, I had the good days and bad days (which I attributed to barometric pressure changes and fluctuations). Let me tell you though, my daily trip to Dunkin Donuts for my small coffee were truly a blessing. I would enjoy the flavor as a treat, then, a half hour later, I'd be able to breathe. Honest to goodness breathing, no straining, no trouble. And I'd have my first real pee of the day, not the 3 drops every 20 minutes pee, but a really relieving pee. That's how I knew that the coffee was really helping me immensely.

But overall, I was miserable. I was on my feet for work all day and no matter what I did, I ended up with elephant legs at the end of the day. While I love reading and knitting, both became too exhausting to do. I still walked the dogs every day, but the walks took longer and longer as I moved slower and slower. And on top of that, DS was sitting firmly on my sciatic nerve, so randomly I would lose the use of my left leg. DH once caught me mid-air as I was going down because my left leg didn't do what it was supposed to do.

And I was eating 15 tums a day to reduce heartburn. DS was a huge kid, born at 38 weeks. I don't know if I'd have survived that birth without modern medicine and relaxation techniques. All my symptoms went away right after DS was born. It was like he was sitting on my kidneys, preventing them from working. And when he came out, I could not stop running to the bathroom the first 3 days which was incredibly painful with an episiotomy and 3 major tears.

[table4three]

I'm right there with you. I get winded very easily now and if I've just walked up the stairs and then read DS's books to him, I can really tell I'm winded. And I'm freaking EXHAUSTED! So, I hear you on that stuff.

I haven't any pains or edema (yet).

Hang in there! We're almost done! :)


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[kfk]

Add me to the list of 3d trimester mamas who feel yuck. It started at 31 weeks with severe heartburn and the return of nausea (I think I only got a month off from feeling queasy and puking this pregnancy). I just saw my obgyn and everything is fine (even though I lost a pound last month) with the baby, it's just the baby pressing against my gut and triggering my ibs.

Oh, and chasing kids is a killer. Not that being pregnant with twins was easy BUT being pregnant with one and chasing twin 2.5 year olds is kicking my booty. At least on my days at work (3x a week) I can sit. On days at home I live for nap time.

I do have anemia, so I would have that checked out. I really feel it energy-wise when I forget my iron pills.