Flip through the latest issue of Gulf Weekly.
EXCERPT from I Want A Healthy Pregnancy - journal entry, pregnancy week 6/7: “I can’t believe how tired I am. I had to come home early from work every day this week and I’ve been sleeping early every night. All I can think of is my bed. Why am I becoming such a zombie? ”
When a pregnant woman tells you she’s tired, it’s not the normal ‘tired’. Before I got pregnant, I used to read about fatigue during pregnancy and I almost expected it; but it was only when I got pregnant that I really understood it.
Pregnancy fatigue hit me early on in my pregnancies. At around six weeks, something happens and you start to shut down. The body is obviously working so hard on the inside to create a baby and a placenta that it leaves the mother washed out.
With my second pregnancy, exhaustion was the frst hint that made me take a pregnancy test.
I was a very hands-on mother to my then one-year-old daughter and I used to do everything with her. Then, one day, I was so tired that I remember thinking of nothing else but the bed. It was 11am when I foated to the room, shut the door, and crashed for the next three hours, not knowing (or caring) about anything else that was happening in the house.
That episode of exhaustion made a lot more sense once I found out I was pregnant. It was also followed by many other similar episodes of tiredness. Since then, I’ve heard many funny stories about other pregnant women who were in the same boat.
Quick energy tip: Get some natural light. You’d be amazed how much energy you can get just by sitting for a few minutes in the sun. Getting some natural light will give you a physical and emotional boost and, of course, a bit of the marvellous vitamin D that we all need! • Do you get tired when pregnant? Get great tips from my latest book I Want A Healthy Pregnancy, sold in bookstores around Bahrain or online at Amazon, iTunes or Kindle store. The Arabic version is due out this month so stay tuned! For more info, visit www. IWantAHealthyPregnancy.com
