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December 2015 Moms
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Working overnight

kharleykharley member
in December 2015 Moms
So I think that I just need a little bit of encouragement. I'm 20 weeks and I work a night shift from 9pm to 7am. Lately, I haven't been sleeping well during the day which causes me to be extremely tired when I get to work; I get about 4 - 5 hours of sleep a day. On my weekends I try to catch up on sleep but I always still feel so exhausted. Yesterday, I came home from work and slept but I only got about 4 hours of sleep and I couldn't go back to sleep at all and I was just so tired and I think that I had an emotional breakdown because I was tired and I was tired of being tired and I started crying and just couldn't stop. I got about another hour of sleep before I had to get up to get ready for work. As I was getting ready, I just felt more and more ill. My head and eyes hurt because I cried so much, I started throwing up and I just didn't feel quite right. right now I'm at work and I'm starting not to feel well again. I just don't know what to do anymore. I'm just so tired of being tired.

Side note: I do have a doctor's appointment tomorrow which I will be talking to her about this.
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Re: Working overnight

  • Mizuiro007Mizuiro007 member
    I'm so sorry. I know how miserable it is being so tired and the night shift is rough enough already. My husband has worked night shift a lot, some days he can only get to sleep by taking melatonin. Maybe rather than getting to worked up when you can't get back to sleep you can take unisom or benedryl.

    I've had a lot of issues with sleep anxiety which is partially what this sounds like to me. The best thing is to try to get your head out of it. Do something non stimulating for a while and lay back down after at least 45 minutes. I like to work on sudoku puzzles, listen to relaxing music, write a little in my journal or even sip warm tea like peppermint or chamomile.

    I've also been struggling with nit being able to sleep more than 4 hrs at a time lately. I just get so uncomfortable that then I'm waking up from pain. I can take Tylenol but my OB okayed it so for now I'm taking an advil before bedtime and that really helps with my quality of sleep. If you're able maybe try the same with Tylenol and see if it helps?
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  • kharleykharley member
    I tried melatonin before I was pregnant and it doesn't really work for me but I do like the Tylenol idea; I will bring that up to my doctor.
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  • LAPow13LAPow13 member
    I work nights as well and have this problem. If I dont get enough sleep I start to physically become ill. I take unisom or Benadryl gel capsules (the gel ones work better for some reason). My ob said it was totally fine to do on a daily basis and everything I've read online indicates it's safe even on a daily basis. Working nights is hard but working nights while growing a human is exponentially harder! Good luck hope you get some sleep!
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  • kharleykharley member
    edited August 2015
    I think that's what happened to me. I was so stressed out about not sleeping and I knew how tired I was going to be that I made myself ill. Working nights and being pregnant is not easy!!
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  • MandiStevieMandiStevie member
    I work 7p-7a Fri, sat, and sun. This week I just so happened to have a doctor appointment Monday after working an extra hour. I get around 4-6 hours of sleep during my work days, then Monday only got 3 after work before my appointment. I was so tired I cried for hours after I got home. Hormones, exhaustion, and just emotions had me snapping at everyone. I think since Monday I've slept around 14 hours catching up and I still feel tired. Lol I know your struggle. Fingers crossed it gets better.
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  • laurabwalkerlaurabwalker member
    Yes I work random overnights on call and I barely get sleep, it's really hard, I feel your pain.
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  • navyblueladybugnavyblueladybug member
    I work 7p-7a 2-3 days a week and it's rough! I bought black out curtains and it helps a lot! I finally got my body used to sleeping during the day and can get decent sleep. When I do back to back nights I tend to get about 6 hours, but I don't schedule myself more than 2 days in a row. That allows me to play catch up. I know that sick feeling though... When I'm overtired I feel physically sick to my stomach :( I hope you can get some more sleep soon. Also, When I was about 20/21 weeks I got into a sleep funk. I couldn't sleep well at all... I think it's because I was a stomach sleeper and couldn't do that anymore. Side sleeping threw me off.
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  • seahawksfansseahawksfans member
    edited August 2015
    My SO works nights and between finding time to keep up with each other and work and the exhaustion from baby growing....I feel your pain.  I expect we will be even more tired when the LO comes!!!
    image
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