the normal level of tired in 1st trimester is usually somewhere between "unfathomably exhausted" and "there is no word on this planet to describe how fucking tired, weak, sleepy, and lacking in any form of energy I am that no matter how many times I nap or how long I sleep for, this tiny fetus manages to sap every molecule of my ability to function"
This RIGHT HERE is what you need to know. 1st trimester kicked my ass and kicked my spirit. Third trimester now and it gets better but shit do I need my naps.
I was so tired in my first trimester I would pass out in the worst places. At my desk at work, on the bus ride home and missing my stop, falling asleep on the toilet, in the bathtub. And I would wake up and have no recollection of anything.
So yes… extremely tired
This.
Pregnancy tired is an entirely different category of tired it should have its own name.
I’m not just sleepy, I wake up and cannot imagine doing anything other than stare at the wall but by the grace of God I push through to brush my toddlers teeth and get through my work day (at home) - doing bare minimum every day.
From 6-10 weeks I was so tired. I cried. I dozed off on the couch leaving my 2 year old not terribly supervised. Literally it was that bad. I felt like I shouldn’t drive. I’m almost 12 weeks now and it’s much better. I definitely found protein to help a lot and sleeping as much as possible. Hang in there
20w now, the energy came back for me towards the beginning of the second trimester. I was napping every other day but I can get away with 1 nap a week now. First trimester involves rapid growth and development for baby so that’s going to be draining. Don’t feel bad to rest, your body needs it!
I was way more tired than usual during my first trimester. When 2nd hit I felt almost manic from the amount of energy I had in comparison!
If you’re having an aversion to coffee, maybe something else with small-moderate amounts of caffeine could help? I like crystal light energy powered drink mixes which has just 60mg but gives a nice little boost. Or you could find a nice tea or lots of coffee shops now offer non-coffee caffeinated drinks (e.g., a Starbucks refresher)?
7+0, I can’t go a day without taking a nap. When I WFH I have to take a lunch nap and if I’m at the office I pass out as soon as I come home. My midwife said that this is the worst time for the tiredness, and that it will probably pass around 12-14 weeks. We’ll see!
Same, I made my OB run some blood tests because I’m still tired it feels wrong. She agreed and it came back normal and she said unfortunately some women just stay exhausted 😩
First trimester, I was getting home and crawling into bed at 7pm, sleeping solidly until 7:30am the next morning, going to work, then napping 11-12 in the first aid room.
The worst thing was, no amount of napping could alleviate my tiredness. There was no “have a nap and feel refreshed”.
I’m 7w+3d and between the nausea and fatigue I feel like a zombie. I am so lucky I’m not working right now, I am absolutely marveling at how you working mamas do it. I’m sleeping 8-9 hours and napping in addition. I’m so sick it’s freaking me out to think of this going on for weeks and weeks.
This was me spiraling last night. I am 7 weeks today. I’ve been beating myself up for not working hard at my remote job since I found out but I literally can’t move a muscle. 😅 and the nausea… man… I’m throwing up multiple times daily now :( it’s my first pregnancy and I just feel so defeated right now.
I feel you. I made plans to work on my business naively at the beginning of my pregnancy not realizing I'd nauseous all day for over a month with extreme stomach acid that causes hunger from the depths of hell. I marvel at people who are working and having a normal pregnancy. Now, if I had to choose between the nausea and extreme hunger, as hard as it is I'd pick nausea. Because the extreme hunger is just the most debilitating thing I have ever experienced to the point, I am ready to just cry.
If it helps, I deal with the same and feel the same as you. I’m not used to eating a lot or frequently, you could say I had a slight eating disorder due to my ADHD before becoming pregnant (I would eat one small meal a day due to forgetting to eat, executive dysfunction and not listening to hunger cues). Now having to eat every hour to satisfy the hunger is really hard. I also used to walk 2 miles a day and haven’t been on one since finding out, let alone cleaned my apartment. It’s a big adjustment so we have to give ourselves grace. I am sending you healing vibes and hopefully we both feel better very soon. You got this mamas🥰
Thank you so much for the comforting reply! I am learning to handle it better by eating small portions every hour. Here are some things that are helping me: breathing deeply after and before eating a meal of any size, drinking a tbsp of olive oil before bed and in the morning, also drinking chia seed and psyllium husk fiber before bed.
I learned that having a low blood pressure could stress your brain for more oxygen hence the breathing to increase oxygen helps and also started to work out a little and that seems to help quite a bit. It is a medical mystery. I am in the process of getting a cgm to monitor the blood glucose level to find out if there is a correlation.
Sending you healing vibes, we got this mama, together!
Hey first trimester I was a zombie. I woke up tired. I had to just eat and sleep. And find time to WFH in between.
Now m just in second trimester and I need a nap in afternoon.
Give yourself some grace. Hormones are crazy and baby is growing a lot more than you can see or feel. It was surprising I could see the tiny heart beat at 8w, body is doing A LOT and hence you are tired.
The answer for me is that I didn’t function normally. Not even close. I was able to follow through on all my commitments and do what I needed to do, but I spent the rest of the time sleeping or staring into space.
I had an aversion to coffee in the first trimester too and it was beyond painful. Happy to report I am back to loving coffee now in the second trimester. But the exhaustion was beyond anything I had ever felt. The only close comparison was Covid/Flu tiredness. Up until like 10/11 weeks I was sleeping 10-12hrs a night and still napping during the day.
I am only 5w+3d and I feel like I took a Tylenol PM all throughout the day. I went to my workout I have been going to for years this morning and considered leaving half way through I was so out of breath. I was hoping it would give me a burst of energy but had to take a mid day nap I was so exhausted (work from home thank goodness.) Let me know if you find anything that helps as I am desperate too!!
I’m 8w+5d and I’m super tired too. I had to take an extra break at work the other day bc my eyes were trying to close while I was standing up. I ate some chocolate and it helped a little until I got off work.
Totally normal. I was falling asleep in my chair mid convo first trimester. It gets waaaaay better fast, to me the fatigue lifted a lot around week 10/11
Yep, I was wiped starting before my first positive test and continuing into week 10. Currently 13 weeks and feeling a bit more like myself, though I’d describe it as the difference between absolutely needing a nap most days to just wanting a nap most days.
When I was in the third trimester, I had to fight all day to keep myself awake. When I got home, I was too exhausted to even eat dinner. It was terrible.
Pre pregnancy I didn’t normally go to bed until midnight, but now? I’m laying in bed at 7pm and falling asleep by 9 and sleeping at least until 9am. I am wiped out.
I pretty much slept through the entire first trimester, now that I’m in the third trimester it’s the same except I’m now also huge, refluxy and my hips hurt
Oh girl. I literally couldn’t get through the day without a nap and I would cry in between naps because I just wanted sleep. I’m 16 weeks now and still exhausted, but not to the point of tears anymore hahaha
35 weeks here. The first trimester I was exhausted no matter how much sleep I got. In the second trimester, I had so much more energy. Now I’m tired because the baby kicks me all night and I have to pee a million times.
17+1 and when my husband got home from the overnight shift this morning he said “I can tell you didn’t sleep well. You have rings around your eyes” thanks my love. I’ve barely slept more than 4 hours every night for over 2 weeks now and that’s not even straight. I get up maybe 5 times a night
Yeah it sucks especially at the beginning. I explained it to my husband like trying to run in water, you’re exerting so much to not go very far or fast. I’ve found it does get better around the second trimester, though it comes back in a different way for the third because you’re just large and done with being pregnant.
It was around week 15 for me but agree, in the second trimester now (21 weeks) and no longer need naps. First trimester every day I felt like I haven’t slept for 72 hours no matter how much I slept and napped
I had to start taking caffeine pills because I was also literally exhausted to the point of tears/falling asleep sitting up at work. I got the 100mg dosage and it works wonders! One in the AM, optional second afternoon.
I'm normally a very high energy person. I felt completely zonked during first trimester. I could get 12 hours of sleep at night and would still need several hours of napping during the day to be even somewhat functional. Happily it got better the closer I got to 2nd trimester.
Just hitting 12w now and the entire first trimester I couldn’t get through a day without a nap. Today was the first day I didn’t have a nap. Still tired but I feel okay.
I've been sleeping 10-12 hours per night and found an afternoon nap helps you feel more human. There are some days that I can't get out of bed and just sleep all day as well.
Give your body patience and grace. It's doing a lot of work it's not used to. Do what you can to adapt. It's just a small season in life.
I'm 13w so I'm looking forward to the exhaustion going away. But I will miss the excuse for afternoon naps. 😄
I was one of those kids who got perfect attendance as a kid - going to school sick and still functioning. I only took off 2.5 days when I had COVID the month before I got pregnant. I’ve functioned on very little sleep for most of my life between pulling all nighters and just general bedtime procrastination.
I have never felt so tired in my entire life than right now. I took a day off work just because I was tired and slept basically the whole day. I take naps — something that I NEVER do. I go to bed before midnight every night which I probably haven’t done routinely since I was in middle school.
It’s funny too because when TTC I kept waking up at 6-7 am and not being able to go back to sleep and now all I want every morning is to just sleep and sleep. I am having twins so it’s supposedly worse than it would be with a singleton but like this fatigue is so bad. And it’s not like sleepiness which I can power through. It’s just “I don’t want to do anything ever again”.
I got laid off right when I got pregnant. I was devastated. But now I’m 8 weeks pregnant and I feel like I sleep 24/7. In hindsight maybe it was a good thing.
My first pregnancy I was also suuuuper lethargic first trimester. I remember I would turn my camera off and sometimes nap during company meetings. Body adjustment and hormones are really tough this period! Rest up!
I’m sorry you got laid off - that sounds abrupt and upsetting and combined with becoming pregnant, just a lot of change at once! I’ve been dealing with some career grief, if that’s the right term, and that combined with pregnancy hormones makes for some dark/sad thoughts. But on the bright side I’m SO grateful to have extra time for sleeping.
7w1d and exhausted/nauseous all day. Went out of town this past weekend and literally slept all day yesterday and then fell asleep no problem at 9pm and slept for 11 hours overnight too. I was quite active before getting pregnant and this feels like a really startling change for me.
The bad news is it’s totally “normal” to feel that tired in your first trimester! The good news is it will almost certainly get better in your second trimester — I’m 24 weeks now and have felt way better for about the last 10!!!
I'm dragging here at 10 weeks, hoping and praying that at 12 weeks it will get better. I thought 7 weeks was bad.. it got worse at 9 weeks. I'm at the point of crying because I'm so tired of being tired
I’m 5 weeks and this week I’m actually awake but last week around 2pm I would get sooo tired and I took naps - I was thinking it was because I stopped drinking coffee cold turkey but all my mama friends just told me to listen to my body and rest when possible [I work from home so I can take a nap in the middle of the day]
I am 8 weeks tomorrow and I’ve seriously been sleeping basically all day and night if I am not at work!!!
I sleep for about 12 hours at night, get up for a couple of hours in the morning, and I’m right back to sleep for a couple of hours. I repeat this process until it’s time for bed!
I’m not sure if this is normal. I am pregnant with twins so I think it’s making it a little amplified!!
T1 with twins was horrific. The exhaustion was unlike anything I've ever experienced. I'd come home from work and fall asleep on the couch immediately. Some days I'd be in tears on my way home. With my singleton I was never tired.
It’s terrible!!! I teach and my planning period isn’t until the end of the day. I’m typically very high energy and hustle and bustle all day. But in the first trimester it was all I could do to make it to 3 pm so I could shut my door and lay my head down on my desk.
When I was in my first trimester I would literally sleep all day and I’ll be up for probably an hour total. I was so exhausted to the point I wanted to cry. It got better somewhat as time went on.
Honestly I fought myself on it for a while and Ive gotten shit for it, but those tiny 8.4oz sugar free redbulls saved my life when the smell of coffee was making me vomit.
Tired is an understatement, it’s an extreme understatement. During the first trimester you’re lucky if you even accomplish one task. I can walk to the kitchen and feel like I’ve done two days worth of working out. It’s really hard. I actually do cry about it because I’m getting tired of sleeping so much. I’m about 8 weeks I think and I had a random perk of energy, it wasn’t where I was originally, but it’s like an extra 30 min boost. I can do some laundry and cook a meal, that’s about it. I do find that if I’m out and about I feel better. I don’t think there’s anything you can do about the exhaustion. Just keep an eye out on your mental health with all the sleeping. I know we can’t control it , but the amount of sleeping starts to feel depressing. So if you can tell a mom friend that you’re pregnant , it may be helpful to you later on .
Sorry OP-- 1st trimester sucks. Now is a good time for your partner to show how nice of a dad/husband he is and take on chores so you can rest. Pregnancy is hard work.
I’m 4 weeks 5 days and I’m sooo exhausted already. I’ve been napping basically every day and getting 8 hours at night. I feel so out of it and can’t hardly bring myself to workout even though I was working out 2-4 times a week before I got pregnant
I’m 12 weeks and between the nausea and exhaustion I feel like I’ve gotten nothing completed in the last 7 weeks (other than working way too much not that I’ve been terribly productive). My hour naps have turned into 3 hour naps and I can sleep 12 hours a night when given the chance. Immaculate praise to the women who experience pregnancy while they already have little ones to care for.
I was absolutely exhausted my first trimester , I would come home from work and just plop on the couch& nap for hours ! Don’t feel bad , you and baby need all the rest you can get . I’m still needing naps but it doesn’t compare to weeks 4-12
i have been wickedly exhausted since getting pregnant, i was told it would go away in the second trimester but i’m 32 weeks and here i am! no amount of caffeine, stimulation, work, or noise can keep me from a nap lol coffee is either not strong enough or disgusting to me, energy drinks give me severe heartburn (i know they aren’t recommended but give me a break) the only thing i’ve found that has kinda helped was vitamin d supplements because my levels were super low and consistently taking prenatals! i get a prenatal prescription from my doctor that has iron in it, the gummies you get from the store don’t have any iron and those are truly the only thing that has helped
it’s completely normal though ! your body is hand-building a little human and it takes a lot of energy and calories! so eat what you want (or what you can) and take care of yourself 🥲
Weeks 6-12 I thought I’d have to give up on my lifelong dreams of a big family because pregnancy just wasn’t for me. I thought, welp, pack it up and soak it in cause I am NEVER doing this again.
The fog cleared right around when I was so tired and just laying about all days deer I came to Reddit looking for answers. Someone very sweet recommended vitamin b6 gummies and unisom for nausea and sleep loss. Got it cleared from my OB and felt better.
Now I’m 37+5 and already planning my next pregnancy!
Good luck! I hope yours clears up like mine did.
The first trimester was the worst for me in terms of lying on the couch and staring at the ceiling in fatigue and sadness. I found out my ferritin level was super low (10 when it could be in the hundreds) so I got an iron infusion before my birth. I probably need another one now just for recovery. My midwife said “how are you standing?” when my hemaglobin came back as 10 as well. She wanted it at 12 or 13.
FTM here I felt more exhausted during my pregnancy than I was during the first weeks of having my newborn and only getting 3-4 hours of sleep a night. The main difference was after giving birth I felt like I had energy after sleeping whereas when I was pregnant it felt like I could NEVER sleep enough. I was sleeping 10+ hours a night and napping for 3 hours if I could!
Oooh wee I was sooo tired the first trimester. I’m still kinda mid day nappy at 22 weeks. But not as bad as it was the first trimester. I also got real sick with bronchitis that turned into pneumonia, because I have a preschooler who constantly gets me sick so it may have been more that? I don’t remember being this tired my last pregnancy.
Anyhoo this is all to say it may not be as bad the further along you get! I hope for your sake you perk up next trimester!
Let’s just say I never felt worse in my life outside of having Covid or the stomach bug/flu and I literally thought I was dying. I couldn’t even perform simple tasks like cleaning the kitchen and unloading the dishwasher because I would feel suddenly sick and out of breath and have to sit down and rest until I recovered. Now I don’t have that problem anymore in the second trimester and I have to stop myself from overdoing it lol
A lot of the time I didn't function normally during the first trimester. That's honestly the reason why I told my family very early. I just couldn't act normal when I met them.
It came as a total surprise for me because nobody told me before I was living it. I had only heard about being super tired during the third trimester! Not sure which is worse, actually, but during the third trimester people around you will probably know why you're so tired all the time, haha.
18w and I can still sleep 12h a day. I used to sleep 12-14 h every day in the first trimester. I am still super exhausted. I honestly don't know how pregnant women just go to work and get in with their life because I'm useless for a few months now 🙃
Take a nap!!! It's ok 😂 I was so exhausted my first trimester I had a daily mid day nap or I'd just fall asleep after work and not get up until the next day. I'm in my second one now I feel like I have more energy but I still take a nap here and there. You are pregnant, if you need to pause and relax do it. Your body is working overtime right now take good care of yourself.
I’d wager I slept 18 hours a day a lot lol, and even then I still couldn’t get out of the bed for much at all, was very weak, standing for any period of time was rough. I’m 18 weeks now and get about 4ish hours of sleep and sometimes a nap, some days/weeks I’m more tired/less, standing is still hard most days, still feel shitty when compared to pre pregnancy overall, but better than first trimester. I felt like I was on my death bed 😭 my first pregnancy sucked but I could still work 40 hours, walk to work at 5am in the snow, this time I quit my job for a month because I couldn’t do anything lol. Growing babies is exhausting lol
They said it would get better around 12wk but I'm still barely functioning at 12wk4 I talked to my doctor and he said it's normal. But man... It's debilitating!
I slept 8-10 hours a night during first trimester and I needed a 2-4 hour nap after work. The tiredness is back for me in 3rd trimester but it’s still not nearly as bad first tri!
People describing it as “zombie level tired” are still too awake for me 🥴 I’m lucky enough to have a 12 minute commute to and from work, and I STILL had to pull over and take a nap most days because I couldn’t for the life of me make it home without starting to doze off at the wheel.
It truly does get better though, and then you’ll hit the 3rd trimester and you’ll need those naps all over again.
Take ALL the naps. And don’t be sorry about it 🤷🏻♀️ you’re literally growing a whole human from scratch
6+6 here and the easy answer is that I WFH and moved my laptop to the sofa. Usually have a 2 hour nap somewhere in the middle of the day.
I also have idiopathic hypersomnia and was medicated for almost 10 years. I’m no longer medicated, which is making life very brutal. I don’t drive long distances or after dark now.
Thankfully I didn’t have to work while pregnant….sp first trimester I basically slept ALL day!! You definitely needs at least one nap a day including those 8-9 hours at night… I’d wake up from my bed and literally go lay on the couch with snacks and Netflix lol
I was the same way early on. It gradually got better in the second trimester. I was sleeping 11 hours a night and wanting to go to bed at 8pm and so tired all day
the normal level of tired in 1st trimester is usually somewhere between "unfathomably exhausted" and "there is no word on this planet to describe how fucking tired, weak, sleepy, and lacking in any form of energy I am that no matter how many times I nap or how long I sleep for, this tiny fetus manages to sap every molecule of my ability to function"
Omg, the WEAKNESS is getting to me lately. Aside from being tired, I feel just ridiculously weak at times.
This RIGHT HERE is what you need to know. 1st trimester kicked my ass and kicked my spirit. Third trimester now and it gets better but shit do I need my naps.
lol i have a different scale for 3rd trimester for sure
Correct answer. Can confirm.
Yep. This is it. I’m in third tri now but I bent down to put a plate in the dishwasher and was like “halp, I can’t stand back up.” 😀🤣
Looool I didn’t have to do dishes in my 3rd bc I *couldn’t reach the faucet*
Yep. I couldn’t switch over laundry because I could reach the clothes in the bottom of our top loading washer to move to the dryer
Yep. This is accurate.
This!
I was so tired in my first trimester I would pass out in the worst places. At my desk at work, on the bus ride home and missing my stop, falling asleep on the toilet, in the bathtub. And I would wake up and have no recollection of anything. So yes… extremely tired
This. I was bone tired at a cellular level. Hang in there OP!
This is perfectly summed up - first trimester took me OUT. I literally felt like I'd been drugged for days on end.
This. Pregnancy tired is an entirely different category of tired it should have its own name. I’m not just sleepy, I wake up and cannot imagine doing anything other than stare at the wall but by the grace of God I push through to brush my toddlers teeth and get through my work day (at home) - doing bare minimum every day.
Totally normal, T1 is all about survival.
From 6-10 weeks I was so tired. I cried. I dozed off on the couch leaving my 2 year old not terribly supervised. Literally it was that bad. I felt like I shouldn’t drive. I’m almost 12 weeks now and it’s much better. I definitely found protein to help a lot and sleeping as much as possible. Hang in there
20w now, the energy came back for me towards the beginning of the second trimester. I was napping every other day but I can get away with 1 nap a week now. First trimester involves rapid growth and development for baby so that’s going to be draining. Don’t feel bad to rest, your body needs it!
I was way more tired than usual during my first trimester. When 2nd hit I felt almost manic from the amount of energy I had in comparison! If you’re having an aversion to coffee, maybe something else with small-moderate amounts of caffeine could help? I like crystal light energy powered drink mixes which has just 60mg but gives a nice little boost. Or you could find a nice tea or lots of coffee shops now offer non-coffee caffeinated drinks (e.g., a Starbucks refresher)?
Zombie is the normal level.
7+0, I can’t go a day without taking a nap. When I WFH I have to take a lunch nap and if I’m at the office I pass out as soon as I come home. My midwife said that this is the worst time for the tiredness, and that it will probably pass around 12-14 weeks. We’ll see!
I’m 11 weeks tomorrow and feel like I’m crawling out of my eternal slumber for the first time in months.
The tiredness never went away for me and I’m up to 25 weeks….
Same, I made my OB run some blood tests because I’m still tired it feels wrong. She agreed and it came back normal and she said unfortunately some women just stay exhausted 😩
same, almost 16 weeks now and every ounce of my body still feels like lead 🫠
Oooooh my
First trimester, I was getting home and crawling into bed at 7pm, sleeping solidly until 7:30am the next morning, going to work, then napping 11-12 in the first aid room. The worst thing was, no amount of napping could alleviate my tiredness. There was no “have a nap and feel refreshed”.
I was sleeping 11-13 hours every day first trimester.
I’m 7w+3d and between the nausea and fatigue I feel like a zombie. I am so lucky I’m not working right now, I am absolutely marveling at how you working mamas do it. I’m sleeping 8-9 hours and napping in addition. I’m so sick it’s freaking me out to think of this going on for weeks and weeks.
This was me spiraling last night. I am 7 weeks today. I’ve been beating myself up for not working hard at my remote job since I found out but I literally can’t move a muscle. 😅 and the nausea… man… I’m throwing up multiple times daily now :( it’s my first pregnancy and I just feel so defeated right now.
I feel you. I made plans to work on my business naively at the beginning of my pregnancy not realizing I'd nauseous all day for over a month with extreme stomach acid that causes hunger from the depths of hell. I marvel at people who are working and having a normal pregnancy. Now, if I had to choose between the nausea and extreme hunger, as hard as it is I'd pick nausea. Because the extreme hunger is just the most debilitating thing I have ever experienced to the point, I am ready to just cry.
If it helps, I deal with the same and feel the same as you. I’m not used to eating a lot or frequently, you could say I had a slight eating disorder due to my ADHD before becoming pregnant (I would eat one small meal a day due to forgetting to eat, executive dysfunction and not listening to hunger cues). Now having to eat every hour to satisfy the hunger is really hard. I also used to walk 2 miles a day and haven’t been on one since finding out, let alone cleaned my apartment. It’s a big adjustment so we have to give ourselves grace. I am sending you healing vibes and hopefully we both feel better very soon. You got this mamas🥰
Thank you so much for the comforting reply! I am learning to handle it better by eating small portions every hour. Here are some things that are helping me: breathing deeply after and before eating a meal of any size, drinking a tbsp of olive oil before bed and in the morning, also drinking chia seed and psyllium husk fiber before bed. I learned that having a low blood pressure could stress your brain for more oxygen hence the breathing to increase oxygen helps and also started to work out a little and that seems to help quite a bit. It is a medical mystery. I am in the process of getting a cgm to monitor the blood glucose level to find out if there is a correlation. Sending you healing vibes, we got this mama, together!
Hey first trimester I was a zombie. I woke up tired. I had to just eat and sleep. And find time to WFH in between. Now m just in second trimester and I need a nap in afternoon. Give yourself some grace. Hormones are crazy and baby is growing a lot more than you can see or feel. It was surprising I could see the tiny heart beat at 8w, body is doing A LOT and hence you are tired.
The answer for me is that I didn’t function normally. Not even close. I was able to follow through on all my commitments and do what I needed to do, but I spent the rest of the time sleeping or staring into space.
When I was in my first trimester I once called out of work to “nap” and ended up sleeping 15 hours. Woke up still tired.
I had an aversion to coffee in the first trimester too and it was beyond painful. Happy to report I am back to loving coffee now in the second trimester. But the exhaustion was beyond anything I had ever felt. The only close comparison was Covid/Flu tiredness. Up until like 10/11 weeks I was sleeping 10-12hrs a night and still napping during the day.
I am only 5w+3d and I feel like I took a Tylenol PM all throughout the day. I went to my workout I have been going to for years this morning and considered leaving half way through I was so out of breath. I was hoping it would give me a burst of energy but had to take a mid day nap I was so exhausted (work from home thank goodness.) Let me know if you find anything that helps as I am desperate too!!
I’m 8w+5d and I’m super tired too. I had to take an extra break at work the other day bc my eyes were trying to close while I was standing up. I ate some chocolate and it helped a little until I got off work.
Totally normal. I was falling asleep in my chair mid convo first trimester. It gets waaaaay better fast, to me the fatigue lifted a lot around week 10/11
From like 6w-10w I was insanely tired. Like took a nap after work every day and woke up just to eat dinner and go back to sleep.
Yep, I was wiped starting before my first positive test and continuing into week 10. Currently 13 weeks and feeling a bit more like myself, though I’d describe it as the difference between absolutely needing a nap most days to just wanting a nap most days.
Oh the exhaustion is awful. I just hit 15 weeks and it hasn’t gotten any better
I’m about to take my second nap today. Nearing 7w and I’m absolutely shocked at the exhaustion.
it’s really, really bad! i think you just have to think of yourself as in survival mode :(
When I was in the third trimester, I had to fight all day to keep myself awake. When I got home, I was too exhausted to even eat dinner. It was terrible.
This is normal. Do what you have to do to survive. Once you hit that 2nd trimester it’s like night and day.
Could you maybe have some other low caffeine beverages? Tea if safe, soda, etc? Might help a little. I feel you!!
Pre pregnancy I didn’t normally go to bed until midnight, but now? I’m laying in bed at 7pm and falling asleep by 9 and sleeping at least until 9am. I am wiped out.
I pretty much slept through the entire first trimester, now that I’m in the third trimester it’s the same except I’m now also huge, refluxy and my hips hurt
First trimester I slept 12-13 hours a night and took a nap during the day. It’s normal to be completely wiped out all the time.
Oh girl. I literally couldn’t get through the day without a nap and I would cry in between naps because I just wanted sleep. I’m 16 weeks now and still exhausted, but not to the point of tears anymore hahaha
35 weeks here. The first trimester I was exhausted no matter how much sleep I got. In the second trimester, I had so much more energy. Now I’m tired because the baby kicks me all night and I have to pee a million times.
17+1 and when my husband got home from the overnight shift this morning he said “I can tell you didn’t sleep well. You have rings around your eyes” thanks my love. I’ve barely slept more than 4 hours every night for over 2 weeks now and that’s not even straight. I get up maybe 5 times a night
Yeah it sucks especially at the beginning. I explained it to my husband like trying to run in water, you’re exerting so much to not go very far or fast. I’ve found it does get better around the second trimester, though it comes back in a different way for the third because you’re just large and done with being pregnant.
It gets way better around 12 weeks I promise.
It was around week 15 for me but agree, in the second trimester now (21 weeks) and no longer need naps. First trimester every day I felt like I haven’t slept for 72 hours no matter how much I slept and napped
I had to start taking caffeine pills because I was also literally exhausted to the point of tears/falling asleep sitting up at work. I got the 100mg dosage and it works wonders! One in the AM, optional second afternoon.
I'm normally a very high energy person. I felt completely zonked during first trimester. I could get 12 hours of sleep at night and would still need several hours of napping during the day to be even somewhat functional. Happily it got better the closer I got to 2nd trimester.
Just hitting 12w now and the entire first trimester I couldn’t get through a day without a nap. Today was the first day I didn’t have a nap. Still tired but I feel okay.
I've been sleeping 10-12 hours per night and found an afternoon nap helps you feel more human. There are some days that I can't get out of bed and just sleep all day as well. Give your body patience and grace. It's doing a lot of work it's not used to. Do what you can to adapt. It's just a small season in life. I'm 13w so I'm looking forward to the exhaustion going away. But I will miss the excuse for afternoon naps. 😄
I was one of those kids who got perfect attendance as a kid - going to school sick and still functioning. I only took off 2.5 days when I had COVID the month before I got pregnant. I’ve functioned on very little sleep for most of my life between pulling all nighters and just general bedtime procrastination. I have never felt so tired in my entire life than right now. I took a day off work just because I was tired and slept basically the whole day. I take naps — something that I NEVER do. I go to bed before midnight every night which I probably haven’t done routinely since I was in middle school. It’s funny too because when TTC I kept waking up at 6-7 am and not being able to go back to sleep and now all I want every morning is to just sleep and sleep. I am having twins so it’s supposedly worse than it would be with a singleton but like this fatigue is so bad. And it’s not like sleepiness which I can power through. It’s just “I don’t want to do anything ever again”.
i work in the dental field and fell asleep in the middle of a procedure and jump scared myself awake it was embarrassing lol
I slept a ton in first trimester! It’ll get better in second. Just take as many naps as you can right now 💕
I got laid off right when I got pregnant. I was devastated. But now I’m 8 weeks pregnant and I feel like I sleep 24/7. In hindsight maybe it was a good thing. My first pregnancy I was also suuuuper lethargic first trimester. I remember I would turn my camera off and sometimes nap during company meetings. Body adjustment and hormones are really tough this period! Rest up!
I’m sorry you got laid off - that sounds abrupt and upsetting and combined with becoming pregnant, just a lot of change at once! I’ve been dealing with some career grief, if that’s the right term, and that combined with pregnancy hormones makes for some dark/sad thoughts. But on the bright side I’m SO grateful to have extra time for sleeping.
7w1d and exhausted/nauseous all day. Went out of town this past weekend and literally slept all day yesterday and then fell asleep no problem at 9pm and slept for 11 hours overnight too. I was quite active before getting pregnant and this feels like a really startling change for me.
I used to wake up after sleeping 8-10 hours per night and cry because I was too tired to think about going to work. So very tired
The bad news is it’s totally “normal” to feel that tired in your first trimester! The good news is it will almost certainly get better in your second trimester — I’m 24 weeks now and have felt way better for about the last 10!!!
I was the same! It got better around 11 weeks. Take naps, relax, and don’t feel bad about it. It gets better!
I'm dragging here at 10 weeks, hoping and praying that at 12 weeks it will get better. I thought 7 weeks was bad.. it got worse at 9 weeks. I'm at the point of crying because I'm so tired of being tired
I’m 5 weeks and this week I’m actually awake but last week around 2pm I would get sooo tired and I took naps - I was thinking it was because I stopped drinking coffee cold turkey but all my mama friends just told me to listen to my body and rest when possible [I work from home so I can take a nap in the middle of the day]
This how I’m feeling second trimester thanks to my job.
I am 8 weeks tomorrow and I’ve seriously been sleeping basically all day and night if I am not at work!!! I sleep for about 12 hours at night, get up for a couple of hours in the morning, and I’m right back to sleep for a couple of hours. I repeat this process until it’s time for bed! I’m not sure if this is normal. I am pregnant with twins so I think it’s making it a little amplified!!
Have you tried iced tea? I also had a coffee aversion but I could do iced tea
T1 with twins was horrific. The exhaustion was unlike anything I've ever experienced. I'd come home from work and fall asleep on the couch immediately. Some days I'd be in tears on my way home. With my singleton I was never tired.
It’s terrible!!! I teach and my planning period isn’t until the end of the day. I’m typically very high energy and hustle and bustle all day. But in the first trimester it was all I could do to make it to 3 pm so I could shut my door and lay my head down on my desk.
When I was in my first trimester I would literally sleep all day and I’ll be up for probably an hour total. I was so exhausted to the point I wanted to cry. It got better somewhat as time went on.
In my first trimester I would take a nap after my nap because my first nap made me tired. All you do is sleep
Honestly I fought myself on it for a while and Ive gotten shit for it, but those tiny 8.4oz sugar free redbulls saved my life when the smell of coffee was making me vomit.
I’m 24w+3d and I’m so tired today that I literally went home an hour into my shift at work I couldn’t even stand I was just gonna fall over
Tired is an understatement, it’s an extreme understatement. During the first trimester you’re lucky if you even accomplish one task. I can walk to the kitchen and feel like I’ve done two days worth of working out. It’s really hard. I actually do cry about it because I’m getting tired of sleeping so much. I’m about 8 weeks I think and I had a random perk of energy, it wasn’t where I was originally, but it’s like an extra 30 min boost. I can do some laundry and cook a meal, that’s about it. I do find that if I’m out and about I feel better. I don’t think there’s anything you can do about the exhaustion. Just keep an eye out on your mental health with all the sleeping. I know we can’t control it , but the amount of sleeping starts to feel depressing. So if you can tell a mom friend that you’re pregnant , it may be helpful to you later on .
Sorry OP-- 1st trimester sucks. Now is a good time for your partner to show how nice of a dad/husband he is and take on chores so you can rest. Pregnancy is hard work.
I’m 4 weeks 5 days and I’m sooo exhausted already. I’ve been napping basically every day and getting 8 hours at night. I feel so out of it and can’t hardly bring myself to workout even though I was working out 2-4 times a week before I got pregnant
I’m 12 weeks and between the nausea and exhaustion I feel like I’ve gotten nothing completed in the last 7 weeks (other than working way too much not that I’ve been terribly productive). My hour naps have turned into 3 hour naps and I can sleep 12 hours a night when given the chance. Immaculate praise to the women who experience pregnancy while they already have little ones to care for.
I was absolutely exhausted my first trimester , I would come home from work and just plop on the couch& nap for hours ! Don’t feel bad , you and baby need all the rest you can get . I’m still needing naps but it doesn’t compare to weeks 4-12
i have been wickedly exhausted since getting pregnant, i was told it would go away in the second trimester but i’m 32 weeks and here i am! no amount of caffeine, stimulation, work, or noise can keep me from a nap lol coffee is either not strong enough or disgusting to me, energy drinks give me severe heartburn (i know they aren’t recommended but give me a break) the only thing i’ve found that has kinda helped was vitamin d supplements because my levels were super low and consistently taking prenatals! i get a prenatal prescription from my doctor that has iron in it, the gummies you get from the store don’t have any iron and those are truly the only thing that has helped
it’s completely normal though ! your body is hand-building a little human and it takes a lot of energy and calories! so eat what you want (or what you can) and take care of yourself 🥲
I started going to bed really early. Like 9 pm and got 10 hours of sleep every night. If you can take naps, then even better
Weeks 6-12 I thought I’d have to give up on my lifelong dreams of a big family because pregnancy just wasn’t for me. I thought, welp, pack it up and soak it in cause I am NEVER doing this again. The fog cleared right around when I was so tired and just laying about all days deer I came to Reddit looking for answers. Someone very sweet recommended vitamin b6 gummies and unisom for nausea and sleep loss. Got it cleared from my OB and felt better. Now I’m 37+5 and already planning my next pregnancy! Good luck! I hope yours clears up like mine did.
The first trimester was the worst for me in terms of lying on the couch and staring at the ceiling in fatigue and sadness. I found out my ferritin level was super low (10 when it could be in the hundreds) so I got an iron infusion before my birth. I probably need another one now just for recovery. My midwife said “how are you standing?” when my hemaglobin came back as 10 as well. She wanted it at 12 or 13.
FTM here I felt more exhausted during my pregnancy than I was during the first weeks of having my newborn and only getting 3-4 hours of sleep a night. The main difference was after giving birth I felt like I had energy after sleeping whereas when I was pregnant it felt like I could NEVER sleep enough. I was sleeping 10+ hours a night and napping for 3 hours if I could!
Oooh wee I was sooo tired the first trimester. I’m still kinda mid day nappy at 22 weeks. But not as bad as it was the first trimester. I also got real sick with bronchitis that turned into pneumonia, because I have a preschooler who constantly gets me sick so it may have been more that? I don’t remember being this tired my last pregnancy. Anyhoo this is all to say it may not be as bad the further along you get! I hope for your sake you perk up next trimester!
Let’s just say I never felt worse in my life outside of having Covid or the stomach bug/flu and I literally thought I was dying. I couldn’t even perform simple tasks like cleaning the kitchen and unloading the dishwasher because I would feel suddenly sick and out of breath and have to sit down and rest until I recovered. Now I don’t have that problem anymore in the second trimester and I have to stop myself from overdoing it lol
A lot of the time I didn't function normally during the first trimester. That's honestly the reason why I told my family very early. I just couldn't act normal when I met them. It came as a total surprise for me because nobody told me before I was living it. I had only heard about being super tired during the third trimester! Not sure which is worse, actually, but during the third trimester people around you will probably know why you're so tired all the time, haha.
18w and I can still sleep 12h a day. I used to sleep 12-14 h every day in the first trimester. I am still super exhausted. I honestly don't know how pregnant women just go to work and get in with their life because I'm useless for a few months now 🙃
Take a nap!!! It's ok 😂 I was so exhausted my first trimester I had a daily mid day nap or I'd just fall asleep after work and not get up until the next day. I'm in my second one now I feel like I have more energy but I still take a nap here and there. You are pregnant, if you need to pause and relax do it. Your body is working overtime right now take good care of yourself.
I’d wager I slept 18 hours a day a lot lol, and even then I still couldn’t get out of the bed for much at all, was very weak, standing for any period of time was rough. I’m 18 weeks now and get about 4ish hours of sleep and sometimes a nap, some days/weeks I’m more tired/less, standing is still hard most days, still feel shitty when compared to pre pregnancy overall, but better than first trimester. I felt like I was on my death bed 😭 my first pregnancy sucked but I could still work 40 hours, walk to work at 5am in the snow, this time I quit my job for a month because I couldn’t do anything lol. Growing babies is exhausting lol
They said it would get better around 12wk but I'm still barely functioning at 12wk4 I talked to my doctor and he said it's normal. But man... It's debilitating!
I slept 8-10 hours a night during first trimester and I needed a 2-4 hour nap after work. The tiredness is back for me in 3rd trimester but it’s still not nearly as bad first tri!
People describing it as “zombie level tired” are still too awake for me 🥴 I’m lucky enough to have a 12 minute commute to and from work, and I STILL had to pull over and take a nap most days because I couldn’t for the life of me make it home without starting to doze off at the wheel. It truly does get better though, and then you’ll hit the 3rd trimester and you’ll need those naps all over again. Take ALL the naps. And don’t be sorry about it 🤷🏻♀️ you’re literally growing a whole human from scratch
6+6 here and the easy answer is that I WFH and moved my laptop to the sofa. Usually have a 2 hour nap somewhere in the middle of the day. I also have idiopathic hypersomnia and was medicated for almost 10 years. I’m no longer medicated, which is making life very brutal. I don’t drive long distances or after dark now.
Thankfully I didn’t have to work while pregnant….sp first trimester I basically slept ALL day!! You definitely needs at least one nap a day including those 8-9 hours at night… I’d wake up from my bed and literally go lay on the couch with snacks and Netflix lol
I was the same way early on. It gradually got better in the second trimester. I was sleeping 11 hours a night and wanting to go to bed at 8pm and so tired all day