Newly Prego - Not Doing Well

When I was pregnant with my son I was sick to my stomach the whole first trimester. It was like I had a permanent head cold the whole time and all I wanted to do all day was lay in bed. At the very beginning of my pregnancy I stood up one night and suddenly I got dizzy and only saw blackness and I started sweating profusely and I couldn't even walk to the nearest chair to sit back down. After I sat down the sweating stopped and I began to see light again. I never found out what happened to me but it only happened to me one time.

By the time my first trimester ended, my second trimester was like a party LOL. No more nauseousness and tiredness. It felt like as if I wasn't pregnant. But I agree with other ladies on here saying that you have a little one to tend to so you probably feel even more tired.

Hope you feel better soon.

While many moms experience pretty extreme fatigue in early pregnancy--the first trimester can be like there's an invisible switch inside you that suddenly sends all your energy to your uterus, I swear!--the fact that you report feeling dizzy and near blacking out when you stand makes me concerned. Those are very clear early diagnostic signs of anemia, which is also common in pregnancy. Another way to check is to press on your thumbnail. It should go white underneath as all the blood gets pushed out of the tissue under it. Then release it and watch for how quickly it pinks up again. It should be practically instantaneous. If it seems to take a few seconds, that's another sign of anemia.

Your midwife or doctor can order a simple blood test to check, but be aware that often a standard iron supplement doesn't really help all that much. Most iron supplements actually are nothing more than industrial rust waste, and believe it or not, that comes from government subsidies of industry.

The reason many mothers get anemic during pregnancy is because there is a huge increase in blood volume, and much of that happens in early pregnancy as you are building a placenta and a complete new circulatory system, while also increasing your own blood volume dramatically to carry nutrients and oxygen to both baby and you.

Your focus should be on building healthy blood cells overall and also getting plenty of fluids to help this process. My midwife--who I also trained with for awhile--tells all her clients to eat 7 fresh young dandelion leaves each day to keep healthy. Dandelion is a great liver tonic and blood generator, and far from being a noxious weed, was actually NOT NATIVE to the Americas but was brought over intentionally by the English wives on the Mayflower. They knew it's value for getting through nutritionally deprived times and did not know what they might find in the New World--they also brought stinging nettles, which are an excellent source of nutrition in pregnancy also. In Great Britain, many families would protect their nettles patch and pass it down from generation to generation for it's nutritional value. With dandelion leaves, make sure they are not sprayed with any week killers, or, um, any dog liquids. Pick the young fresh leaves, and add them to a salad or a juicer blend.

Another good blood iron booster is Yellow Dock. You can find the dried powder in herb stores, and put it in capsules yourself, or you can purchase capsules ready made.

Finally, increase your intake of spinach, kale, chard, beet greens, collards and any other dark leafy greens you might like. If you don't like them much, try steaming them and adding them to lasagna, mixed in with the ricotta cheese. You'll hardly notice they are there!

Any iron supplementation should also include vitamin B-12, which helps you absorb whatever iron you do get. Many times I've seen women not make much progress in anemia with iron supplementation alone, but when they add B-12 to the mix, they start feeling better and their hematocrit and hemaglobin counts go up. Get a good sublingual (under the tongue) version, as B-12 is difficult to absorb through the normal digestive process but has receptor sites directly under the tongue.

Definitely get this checked out, because anemia in pregnancy can develop into serious issues.

Hi R.,

Double check your prenatal and make sure it is one that is actually absorbing. There are so many on the market now and many even do more harm than good. Doctors are not usually the expert on nutrition. If you're not sure how to tell, PM me.

Congratulations!

M.

I'd have your doctor run some bloodwork. Lack of iron can do this to you.. be careful! Hang in there! Keep drinking plenty of water and eating healthy.

Feeling tired in early pregnancy is very common , and when you already have a little one to look after , you feel even more tired , also excercising is good , especially if you have always done it , then there is no reason to stop just because you are pregnant , you just need to take it a little easier than you would normally. However the feeling dizzy and vision thing is not normal , and can be a sign of low blood pressure , I would see your doctor to get checked out.

Go to the doctor and get a check up just to be safe. May just be fatigue, but find out so you can deal with it. You'll feel better even if you find out that's all it is.

When in question always go see your doctor

I felt the exact same way. When I first got pregnant with No. 2 I felt super tired and dizzy most of the time. It wasn't until about 16 weeks that I started to get some energy back. No that I'm hitting the 28 week mark I'm starting to slow down again. Mostly because I'm HUGE!
I think it's harder with No. 2 because you can't rest when you want to becuase your watching No. 1. It seemed to me that everything happened sooner with the second pregnancy. I started to show much sooner and I'm so much bigger than I was with the first baby. Good Luck. This will pass eventually : )

I would get your Iron levels checked, they usually don't do it routinely this early so they might not find it right away.

Yep, totally normal. Remember, you're now chasing around a toddler in addition to things. That makes it SO much harder.
Keep up your workouts, believe it or not, they help.
And rest assured that this will go away in a few weeks.

I had this exact same thing at that beginning of my second pregnancy. At week 12, I woke up feeling totally normal again.

you have good responses so dar, yes dehydration can be a cause and so can low iron. Please drink plenty of water, and yes please see your Dr. he needs to check you out. Do not increase your iron until he/she tells you too.

Call him today.

The 2nd for some reaso feels worse then the 1st and I think that is because with a child at home already you can not nap whenever you want you are limited to bedtime. It makes it a little bit harder and if you are runnig after #1 baby then you are doing more than before as well.
Good luck and feel better!!! DO NOT GET UP TO FAST !!

I always have that problem with every pregnancy. Im at the ednd of my 3rd...but it was usually my iron levels being too low. pregnancy makes me very anemic which was fixed by takin iron pills daily. ask ur dr if its ok for u cuz it really helps and its not unusal in pregnancy....or u can eat food high in irn and that may help u too

I felt the exact same way with no.2. Although I also couldn't keep any food down either, so at least you have that :). You are probably doing too much for your body to adjust right away (or at least that is what they told me). Your hormones are all messed up and need to readjust to pregnancy. It will get better. My fatigue ended up coming back in my last 6 weeks before delivery.

Good luck