OK, clearly nature designed motherhood to wipe out any memories of pregnancy so you would want to go through it again. The memories of my first trimester last time are blurry and fuzzy and all I can remember is the excitement of being pregnant and the constant 24/7 nausea.
The good news is that today I am 6 weeks pregnant, and while I have passing bouts of nausea, lasting only a few moments at most, generally I am OK. Last time, at exactly the 6 week mark, I stopped eating anything other than saltines and ginger ale, which lasted for six more weeks.
But I forgot about the fatigue. God, the fatigue! I am so damn tired, and even on the days I do manage 8 hours of sleep, once midday hits my eyelids suddenly gain 10 pounds each and I can barely keep them open. I feel like I could easily join Cordy on her sleep schedule – 12 hour nights, plus a 2 hour nap in the afternoon. Actually, that would be fantastic.
I understand I’m growing another human being, but that human being barely needs any extra calories (I disproved that whole “eating for two” myth last pregnancy), so why does it need every last ounce of my energy?
Most of my coworkers know I’m pregnant now. It’s hard not to tell them when they look at me and say, “You look like hell! Are you sick?” And I have received that comment from no less than 4 people, so officially I do look like hell and appear to be ill.
At my main office location (I’m located at a suburban campus most days of the week), I’ve been tempted more than once to shut the door to my office and take a short nap. We have few staff up here – surely no one would notice, right? Besides, my office manager is also pregnant with her second baby (3 weeks ahead of me), so we both understand this chronic exhaustion.
Along with the fatigue is short term memory loss. I called a student today, in response to a message she had left me. Turns out I had already called her last Wednesday, and she was puzzled as to why I was calling about it again.
Only 6 more weeks to go until the fog lifts, right?
Oh, I feel for you, I do.
I went through the same things (of course) when I was pregnant, and that fatigue is something that I still remember way too clearly. Here’s a trick I used – fresh cut lemons in a ziplock in my drawer at work. Sniff as needed. Good for nausea and a bit of a lift when all I wanted to do was pull a castanza and go to sleep under my desk.
Just think – by Halloween, you’ll be in the honeymoon trimester.
When I was pregnant with my second, I laid on the couch and let Lizzy watch TV. God, I was tired. So tired. And I threw up 5 times a day for 21 weeks, but who was counting?
They say that when you’re pregnant, your body is working just as hard daily as if you were to climb a mountain. It takes a lot to build another human!! I would tell my husband “man, I’m so beat..I had to work today, and that mountain kicked my butt!”
I think the short term memory loss thing lasted my whole pregnancy.
Actually, I may have never regained it.
What were we just talking about?
oh my god. I am so behind in my blog reading and now I come for a visit and learn you are PREGNANT! Wow – congratulations Christina. Such fabulous news!!!!
Oh, the memories. After a certain amount of time, some of it does indeed, fade. But some of it doesn’t. Because I don’t ever want to have to go through the rigors of pregnancy again.
Kudos to you. And I hope the unborn babe starts being a little kinder to you, quickly.
Napping behind a closed door sounds like a good idea. I won’t tell anyone.
I am a few weeks ahead of you and the fatigue is still haunting me. Now my toddler has shared her cold with me! YIPEE! I cannot imagine working, kudos to you, I look forward to my afternoon nap so much!
2 more weeks till I should be ready to bound over tall buildings!
Don’t ya just love it how people think it’s okay to just tell you when you look like crap? I definitely remember the exhaustion. I was useless for like 5 months LOL.
Oh yes, the fatigue. I think we have to have selective pregnancy amnesia about these things, otherwise none of us would have babies again! 🙂
Here’s hoping it passes VERY soon.
Ahh, the fatigue was the first thing that hit me – that was the first sign that I knew I was pregnant before even needing a test. And I was tired the whole rest of the 9 months!
gotta love hte preggo brain… and the “milk for brains” that follows. 🙂 good idea about the lemons- in a previous comment, but if it were my luck, I’d forget about them (the whole preggo brin….) and they’d mold, and it would take me till I came back from my maternity leave to discover what the smell was in the back of my desk… maybe some energizing essential oils on a cotton pad in a ziplock would be better. I have this great scent inhaler I use for my migraines; by earthsolutions.com (you probably could find a great energizing scent inhaler there.)
The exhaustion from my second pregnancy still has not ended. Neither has the memory loss. We are 18 days post partum and I can’t remember what I had for breakfast.
I hope it passes for you soon.
Congratulations!
This is great. I’m going to quote you on Parents Connect, a new parenting website.
Erin
[email protected]
I am approximately 20 weeks pregnant and also have four children. They are 9, 6, 4, and 18 months. I seem to get worse with the forgetfullness as I have more children. Just when I think I am getting better at remembering appointments and anything else that comes up I am pregnant again, lol. I truly must say before I had children I was very good at remembering appointments and special family events such as birthday parties and get togethers, but since having children, the more I have the more I do forget. Not on purpose since the kids would love to go to the parties, but sincerely get those duh feelings. I also can listen to someone talk and if they need an errand run while I am in town, I had better write it down or forget that one it won’t happen. I have to really strive to remember all of the doctor and WIC appointments that we have. This week alone so far I have had to go to town 4 times for doctor appointments. One was my OB appointment. The rest for well child and sick children appts. As far as fatigue, I have got to say that this pregnancy has been far worse than any other pregnancy that I have ever had. I need a nap at least every other day. This is not just a need, but a must to get through my days smoothly. I get sooo grouchy, that I can hardly stand myself. I keep hoping that it will get better but so far just hopes. Good luck to all those who are pregnant that are having troubles. Just remember that in the end it is all worth it to have the beautiful new life in your life. Good luck and God bless!