I ask because I was surprised by how many woman are absolutely drained physically in the first tri-mester when the baby is just beginning to grow and would be infintesimal in size and are less tired in the second and third trimester when the baby is much larger.
Where is the big energy drain going when the baby is so tiny?
The formation of that wonder-organ the Placenta, apparently takes a bit of energy. Getting the womb prepped for habitation is what I have heard.
I’d say all the puking has something to do with this.
Homone shifts the size of major landslides might account for it too.
The difference between being pregnant and not pregnant is bigger than the difference between having a small and large pregnancy.
In terms of blood volume, blood hemoglobin concentration, heart beat, hormone levels, iron levels and everything else.
I doubt if it’s the nausea as such - not everyone gets that.
I haven’t been nauseous at all in my pregnancy, but I was completely whacked for about the first 6 weeks. At the time I blamed the heat, but it stayed hot after that and I felt fine.
Everyone seems to respond in a different way, though
I’m still exhausted at almost 6 months along but that’s probably due to other health issues and not pregnancy. And as has been mentioned every pregnancy is different.
But I was told that the exhaustion is from the hormonal shift and the prep work that starts in those first few weeks. The prep work is pretty intensive in there. My OB told me that while pregnant you create an extra third of your blood volume (so you’d have 1 and 1/3 of what you have not pregnant) Then there is amniotic fluid, the placenta, and the baby (Who while ‘infinitessimally small’ has still grown amazingly quickly (percentage wise- imagine from 2 cells to 2-3 centimeters in just a few weeks) and has to do a lot of development in a small window of time. Also a lot of iron is required during pregnancy too and if you don’t have enough you could end up slightly anemic (and very tired.)
I was tired the whole 9 months.