Growing a human is exhausting. It’s as if a magical spell was cast the day your pregnancy test came back positive — except Sleeping Beauty’s fairy didn’t gift you with 100 years of rest and true love’s kiss is what got you into this.
If only you could sleep more…
It’s completely normal for a pregnant woman to feel fatigued, especially during the first and third trimesters.
Somewhere between morning sickness and elastic waistbands, Little Bo-Peep has lost your sheep (she probably sold them to Sleeping Beauty) and there are none left for you to count to sleep.
One of the first signs of pregnancy is fatigue. It smacks you by surprise, like the sliding glass door you assumed to be open.
Beginning as early as conception and implantation, pregnancy hormones instantly affect your body, mood, metabolism, brain, physical appearance, and sleep pattern.
In the second trimester, which begins at week 13, many women get a fresh surge of energy. This is a great time to tackle those important before-baby-arrives chores, because as you enter the third trimester, which begins at week 28, that extreme exhaustion returns.
Simply put, you feel tired because you’re growing a baby.
In addition to hormonal changes, physical and emotional changes also lower your energy levels and make you feel fatigued.
Some of these changes include:
If insomnia, restless legs syndrome (the uncontrollable urge to move your legs while resting), sleep apnea (a potentially serious disorder in which breathing repeatedly stops and starts), preeclampsia, or any other condition is hindering your sleep, talk to your doctor or midwife during your next appointment.
Other reasons to contact your doctor or midwife include, if you:
Your healthcare practitioner can help you uncover any problems and offer additional solutions.
Growing a baby obviously takes a toll on your body. Don’t ignore the signals your body is sending you. Reach out to others if you’re struggling to sleep throughout your pregnancy. Ask for help from your partner.
No matter how tired you get, you should avoid taking any over-the-counter medicines as a sleeping aid.
Most pregnant women should spend at least 8 hours in bed, aiming for at least 7 hours of sleep every night.
If possible, try going to sleep a little earlier than usual.
As your body changes, make sleep a priority and follow these tips to combat pregnancy fatigue:
Create the right atmosphere for optimal rest.
In order for your body to reach deep sleep, cover any windows with blackout curtains. Turn off any digital clocks and unplug nightlights illuminating a glow (cover the display with electrical tape if you don’t want to completely turn the device off).
Set the bedroom temperature a little cooler than the rest of your home, for optimal quality of sleep. Eliminate any needless clutter and wash your bedsheets often. Save your bed for sleep, cuddling, and sex.
Napping can make up for any sleep lost at night, due to frequent trips to the bathroom, body aches, and every other pregnancy irritation. Avoid napping in the late afternoon and early evenings.
If your employer frowns upon nap time, find a good spot in the breakroom and put your feet up while you eat lunch.
In the beginning, pregnancy can also lower your blood pressure and blood sugar, which can make you feel tired. But a lack of sleep can cause your blood sugar levels to rise, increasing the risk for gestational diabetes.
Keep your blood sugar and energy levels balanced by eating often, such as six small meals a day. Frequent meals that are high in nutrients and protein help to combat fatigue.
To avoid nighttime leg cramps, stay hydrated by drinking enough water and fluids throughout the day.
Keep a journal throughout your pregnancy. If you’re feeling anxious or stressed, try writing in it.
Pregnant women experience more vivid dreams and better dream recall, due to hormonal shifts affecting sleep patterns, increased fatigue, and repeatedly waking in the middle of a sleep cycle.
Sleep diaries can also be enlightening, providing concrete data about your bedtime, how long it takes for you to fall asleep, nighttime awakenings, awake time, and sleep quality.
As far as stimulants go, caffeine may keep you awake long into the night or cause you to wake more frequently. It can also keep your baby active, kicking and rolling around inside your belly as you try to sleep.
Experts recommend pregnant women limit their caffeine intake to two home-brewed cups of coffee, or less than 200 milligrams, per day.
Ask for help from family and friends. Take a warm bath. Ask your partner for a massage. Take a break.
Wear soft, non-restrictive clothing and sit in a cozy chair with a good book and read for a little bit. Light a lavender candle. Play soothing instrumental music. Have a cup of warm chamomile tea.
You get it.
The demands of pregnancy together with the weight gained puts an enormous amount of pressure on your body.
In addition to more restful sleep, The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists states the following benefits of exercise during pregnancy:
It can take a few hours for your body to fully wind down after energetic workouts, so plan for any physical activity to take place earlier in the day.
If the exercise is light, like yoga, it’s unlikely to interfere with your sleep.
Always check with your medical practitioner or midwife before beginning a new exercise program during pregnancy.
Pregnancy can be a tiring experience — both emotionally and physically. It’s important to remember: You are not alone.
Nearly all women experience more fatigue than usual at some point during their pregnancy. Take it as a message from your body. It’s telling you to rest, and you should definitely listen.
Growing a human is exhausting. It’s as if a magical spell was cast the day your pregnancy test came back positive — except Sleeping Beauty’s fairy didn’t gift you with 100 years of rest and true love’s kiss is what got you into this.
If only you could sleep more…
It’s completely normal for a pregnant woman to feel fatigued, especially during the first and third trimesters.
Somewhere between morning sickness and elastic waistbands, Little Bo-Peep has lost your sheep (she probably sold them to Sleeping Beauty) and there are none left for you to count to sleep.
One of the first signs of pregnancy is fatigue. It smacks you by surprise, like the sliding glass door you assumed to be open.
Beginning as early as conception and implantation, pregnancy hormones instantly affect your body, mood, metabolism, brain, physical appearance, and sleep pattern.
In the second trimester, which begins at week 13, many women get a fresh surge of energy. This is a great time to tackle those important before-baby-arrives chores, because as you enter the third trimester, which begins at week 28, that extreme exhaustion returns.
Simply put, you feel tired because you’re growing a baby.
In addition to hormonal changes, physical and emotional changes also lower your energy levels and make you feel fatigued.
Some of these changes include:
If insomnia, restless legs syndrome (the uncontrollable urge to move your legs while resting), sleep apnea (a potentially serious disorder in which breathing repeatedly stops and starts), preeclampsia, or any other condition is hindering your sleep, talk to your doctor or midwife during your next appointment.
Other reasons to contact your doctor or midwife include, if you:
Your healthcare practitioner can help you uncover any problems and offer additional solutions.
Growing a baby obviously takes a toll on your body. Don’t ignore the signals your body is sending you. Reach out to others if you’re struggling to sleep throughout your pregnancy. Ask for help from your partner.
No matter how tired you get, you should avoid taking any over-the-counter medicines as a sleeping aid.
Most pregnant women should spend at least 8 hours in bed, aiming for at least 7 hours of sleep every night.
If possible, try going to sleep a little earlier than usual.
As your body changes, make sleep a priority and follow these tips to combat pregnancy fatigue:
Create the right atmosphere for optimal rest.
In order for your body to reach deep sleep, cover any windows with blackout curtains. Turn off any digital clocks and unplug nightlights illuminating a glow (cover the display with electrical tape if you don’t want to completely turn the device off).
Set the bedroom temperature a little cooler than the rest of your home, for optimal quality of sleep. Eliminate any needless clutter and wash your bedsheets often. Save your bed for sleep, cuddling, and sex.
Napping can make up for any sleep lost at night, due to frequent trips to the bathroom, body aches, and every other pregnancy irritation. Avoid napping in the late afternoon and early evenings.
If your employer frowns upon nap time, find a good spot in the breakroom and put your feet up while you eat lunch.
In the beginning, pregnancy can also lower your blood pressure and blood sugar, which can make you feel tired. But a lack of sleep can cause your blood sugar levels to rise, increasing the risk for gestational diabetes.
Keep your blood sugar and energy levels balanced by eating often, such as six small meals a day. Frequent meals that are high in nutrients and protein help to combat fatigue.
To avoid nighttime leg cramps, stay hydrated by drinking enough water and fluids throughout the day.
Keep a journal throughout your pregnancy. If you’re feeling anxious or stressed, try writing in it.
Pregnant women experience more vivid dreams and better dream recall, due to hormonal shifts affecting sleep patterns, increased fatigue, and repeatedly waking in the middle of a sleep cycle.
Sleep diaries can also be enlightening, providing concrete data about your bedtime, how long it takes for you to fall asleep, nighttime awakenings, awake time, and sleep quality.
As far as stimulants go, caffeine may keep you awake long into the night or cause you to wake more frequently. It can also keep your baby active, kicking and rolling around inside your belly as you try to sleep.
Experts recommend pregnant women limit their caffeine intake to two home-brewed cups of coffee, or less than 200 milligrams, per day.
Ask for help from family and friends. Take a warm bath. Ask your partner for a massage. Take a break.
Wear soft, non-restrictive clothing and sit in a cozy chair with a good book and read for a little bit. Light a lavender candle. Play soothing instrumental music. Have a cup of warm chamomile tea.
You get it.
The demands of pregnancy together with the weight gained puts an enormous amount of pressure on your body.
In addition to more restful sleep, The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists states the following benefits of exercise during pregnancy:
It can take a few hours for your body to fully wind down after energetic workouts, so plan for any physical activity to take place earlier in the day.
If the exercise is light, like yoga, it’s unlikely to interfere with your sleep.
Always check with your medical practitioner or midwife before beginning a new exercise program during pregnancy.
Pregnancy can be a tiring experience — both emotionally and physically. It’s important to remember: You are not alone.
Nearly all women experience more fatigue than usual at some point during their pregnancy. Take it as a message from your body. It’s telling you to rest, and you should definitely listen.
Author: obstetrician-gynecologist Viktoria Shpachenko
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instagram.com/emc.child/ Sex is one of the main components of a strong relationship in a couple. When there is no child, a man and a woman live in their own pleasure and intimacy usually attaches great importance.
With the onset of pregnancy, in couples, sex often fades into the background. Mostly the initiators of this are women. Why?
A woman worries if intimate life will interfere with the development of the fetus. The most common questions of patients to gynecologists are: “Will the baby suffer?”, “Will sex provoke a miscarriage?”, “Will there be complications?”.
A woman does not feel well during pregnancy.
No desire.
Obstetrician-gynecologist Viktoria Shpachenko helped to sort out these issues.
In a normal physiological pregnancy, intimacy is not dangerous. The fetus is securely protected in the mother's tummy, so it cannot be harmed during sex.
Intimate life does not provoke a missed pregnancy. This is usually caused by a chromosomal pathology or hereditary thrombophilia.
Contraindications
However, there are a number of contraindications in which it is better to abstain from sex. Among absolute:
bleeding at any time;
placenta previa;
isthmic-cervical insufficiency.
Relative contraindications include inflammatory diseases. With such diseases, the vaginal mucosa is especially vulnerable. Even the most harmless bacteria can provoke the development of an infection that is dangerous not only for the mother, but also for the baby. Therefore, it is better to postpone sex until recovery.
Feeling unwell
Indeed, during pregnancy, a woman can often feel unwell. Toxicosis or just a general malaise. Of course, in such cases, intimacy should be postponed until the condition normalizes.
Lack of desire
Lack of desire is a fairly common occurrence in a woman during pregnancy due to hormonal changes.
Especially in the first trimester. In the second trimester, on the contrary, desire may intensify. During this period, especially a lot of progesterone is released in the body, the woman becomes more sensitive, and orgasms become brighter. In the third trimester, the expectant mother greatly increases her stomach, shortness of breath appears. Sex during this period can be uncomfortable and not cause desire. But, of course, every woman is unique. And it is impossible to predict how pregnancy will affect her body and attraction to a partner.
Therefore, there are no arguments in favor of not having sex from a medical point of view. Moreover, sex during pregnancy is even beneficial.
Firstly, it improves blood flow, and secondly, it gives the expectant mother positive emotions. Both are good for the baby.
How to explain to a partner if you don't want sex?
Another common question for pregnant women.
Pregnancy doesn't change anything for a man.
He still needs female care, affection, wants intimacy with his woman, and it is not easy for him to understand the refusal.
If intimacy is contraindicated for medical reasons: do not forget that sex includes gentle touches, caresses, kisses, flirting. Talk to your partner about what you and he would like. It is quite possible that you will find exactly the form of intimacy that will bring pleasure to both of you and will be safe for the baby.
If you don't feel like having sex because you don't feel well or because of hormonal changes, explain to the man that this refusal is temporary. For 9months of bearing a baby, your well-being will certainly change many times. Therefore, there will certainly be periods when you can give your spouse the affection that he wants. And, of course, do not forget about taking care of him and attention to yourself. A man is very pleased when a well-groomed, beautiful and self-confident woman is next to him.
the unmotivated rise in temperature is especially worrisome. The temperature usually rises to 37.2 0 -37.5 0 , does not cause any special complaints, some weakness and drowsiness may be observed. The rise in temperature in different women occurs in different ways. For some, it appears only during physical exertion, while doing housework, for others it appears in the afternoon or lasts throughout the day. Usually not so much pregnant women as their relatives are very worried about this.
If we consider the reasons for the rise in body temperature, then during pregnancy (especially in the first trimester), it can be slightly elevated (within 37.2 0 -37.4 0 ). This is due to the fact that the production of the hormone progesterone increases in the body. In the II phase of the menstrual cycle, under its influence, changes occur in the uterine mucosa, preparing it for implantation of the embryo. After pregnancy, progesterone production increases.
Until about 12-14 weeks, the formation of progesterone continues in the "yellow body" of the ovary, and later the placenta takes over this function. Progesterone has an effect on the thermoregulatory center in the brain. And it is changes in hormonal levels and changes in thermoregulation that cause a slight increase in body temperature during pregnancy in a number of women. Studies on the frequency of such a manifestation have not been conducted, but according to observations, it occurs in 3-5% of pregnant women. This is not related to height or weight, but is purely individual. The first weeks of pregnancy is a powerful restructuring of metabolism and hormones. Such an increase in temperature is not a pathology. Fluctuations in temperature, fatigue, drowsiness, changes in mood, appetite, nausea usually disappear by 12-14 weeks of pregnancy. Subfebrile temperature does not affect the development of the child.
If, nevertheless, an increase in temperature causes concern, and you continue to be tormented by doubts, then it is necessary to eliminate the foci of chronic infections - cure your teeth, gargle with chronic tonsillitis, and be sure to check your health with a therapist.
