Today I am twenty-two weeks and two days into my pregnancy with my second child, meaning I am in week 23 of pregnancy. My baby is now the size of a large mango in weight, measuring about eight inches from crown to and weighing about one (1) pound. Amazingly, I am in my sixth month of pregnancy! I am extremely pleased to report that my yeast infection appears on the mend. I still have a few days of medication yet, but the seven-day miconazole cream has stopped my itching and irritation. I just wish that I had called my midwife a few days sooner!
Aside from the yeast infection, my only other complaint at the moment is fatigue during pregnancy. Growing a little person takes a lot of energy, which explains the extra tiredness that many expectant moms feel. Add in chasing after an exuberant toddler each day, and no wonder I am feeling more tired than usual! However, I have also been having trouble sleeping lately for a number of reasons, so I am feeling more fatigued than ever before.
As I have previously written, I have some significant allergies, which largely manifest as nasal allergy symptoms. Throughout the day, I find myself blowing my nose quite often. I also sneeze a lot, have fluid on my ears, and sometimes have watery eyes. If I bump into any foliage outside, I find my skin feeling quite itchy. However, the allergy symptoms that bother me the most are my runny nose and nasal congestion.
When I am not pregnant or trying to conceive, I use Flonase to keep my nasal allergy symptoms under control. Unfortunately, Flonase is a category C drug, meaning the medication has not been deemed safe (or unsafe) during pregnancy. I err on the side of caution and do not use the drug before or during pregnancy. I tried a few other nasal allergy treatments that are safe during pregnancy, but none worked. The only option that provides any relief is Benadryl (diphenhydramine). Unfortunately, Benadryl makes me sleepy, so I can take the medication only at night. On the other hand, feeling drowsy helps put me to sleep. Plus the antihistamine helps me breath so I can sleep easier.
For the most part, I have been taking a Benadryl every night before bed. Without the medication, my nasal passages immediately fill up with mucus as soon as I lay down. I feel so stuffy, and I am unable to breathe through my nose, which makes sleeping difficult. The excess mucus then starts to drip out of my nose, which makes sleeping even more uncomfortable. Part of my congestion is also due to nasal inflammation, so simply blowing my nose does not offer much relief. Benadryl, fortunately, alleviates my symptoms enough to help me sleep through most of the night. The drug does wear off before morning, so sometimes I find myself waking up in the wee hours of the morning with raging nasal allergy symptoms, but I at least got a few hours of sleep. But, missing even a few hours of precious sleep each night does leave me feeling more tired than usual during the day.
Between growing a little person inside me, chasing my toddler daughter around all day, and not sleeping as well as usual at night because of my allergies, I am definitely feeling a bit more tired than usual. Fortunately, most days I do have the option of taking an afternoon nap with my daughter. Therefore, although I am feeling more tired than usual lately, my fatigue during pregnancy could be a lot worse. I just need to keep making sure that I get enough good sleep during pregnancy — both for my sake and for the sake of my developing baby.
Did you experience fatigue or problems getting enough sleep during pregnancy? Why? How did you cope?
Originally written on July 5, 2014
Image Credits
Heather Pregnancy 22 Weeks 2 Days © 2014 James Johnson
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