I feel as if I’m spending this pregnancy asleep or in a foggy daze. When I’m not asleep, I’m daydreaming about going to sleep. I read in books that my energy was supposed to return in my second trimester, however, I found that this must be an old wives tale. Besides being tired all the time, I love being pregnant again.
For the holidays, we planned to drive from Provence to Normandy – normally a 13 hour roadtrip. With my need to pee every hour, we estimated the trip would extend to 16 hours or more. My doctor strongly advised us to cancel. We talked to a midwife in the hallway for a second opinion and was again advised against it or breaking the trip into two days and taking a long break every 3 hours. With a 14 month old, this would have been rough.
Once we returned home, we considered taking a train or flying. I love the TGV so was excited about taking the train with our daughter – my husband wanted to drive so we would have our car in Normandy. We called a midwife and found out that while taking the train would be better than driving, she was against this because I would have a stressful time changing train stations in Paris – especially with our daughter. If you’ve yet to do this, there are hundreds of stairs, people rushing by, short amount of time to reach the station, and no elevators. While I’ve always had luck of a man rushing to my aid with my luggage, if I was not so lucky this time, I would be stuck with a heavy baby and large stroller.
The final alternative was taking the plane. The Lyon airport is on the way up to Caen (3.5 hours north of where we live), so he would drop us off and then he’d drive the rest of the way. The flight is only 1 hr 15 min long. After much discussion, my husband agreed to take the plane with me and he purchased tickets for us all. It doubled the cost of the trip, but it considerably shortened the length of time to get there.
My monthly midwife appointment was two days before leaving. While she agreed this was a better alternative, she did not fully support it. She prescribed me a homeopathic remedy (Spasfon) so my uterus would not spasm. I had to take it the night before leaving, three times the day of traveling, and the next morning. She also told us once I’m in Normandy, no more traveling until I return home. This meant we had to cancel our plans of driving 3 hours to Brittany for Christmas at my sister-in-laws house.
As you could imagine, my sister-in-law was not thrilled about the news – especially only a few days before expecting us. Our plan was to fly to Caen on Saturday, rest on Sunday, drive to Brittany on Monday, return to Caen on Tuesday. Instead of hosting Christmas at her house, we had it at her mother-in-law’s house in Caen. We had a beautiful dinner and an amazing time. Her 3 year-old son gave Juliana a million little bisous (kisses) and patiently played with her.
A few days later I began experiencing strong cramps and contractions, as well as a handful of other symptoms that caused me concern. We went to the Caen CHU maternité to make sure all was okay. I dilated early in my last pregnancy, so we wanted the peace of mind all was normal. The doctor was a bit brutal, but performed a full examination and used internal and external ultrasounds to make sure the baby was okay and I did not dilate early. Luckily, all was well. He advised me to rest with my feet up. He also advised me to not go on any long trips, unless it’s the trip to return home. He also told me I shouldn’t have any long trips after my 20th week – and, of course, we are returning home at 19 weeks. This means no more adventures for a while.
Everything is going great now. My body is back to normal and I’m feeling great (well, except for being tired all the time). I’ve been sneezing the past couple days and am hoping I’m not about to catch a cold. There was an article in the newspaper today how it’s really spreading across France right now. My husband just handed me a cup of orange juice as I type- 4 oranges and 1 lemon – so it’s loaded with vitamin C!
Carol Larmore says
I do worry about you still being so tired…it’s normal the first few months….but you seem abnormally tired and sleep so much….I think you should explain the extent of your exhaustion and amount of time you sleep to your doctor…..maybe blood work is in order just to make sure everything is ok. Stay Well~~~
French Mamma says
No worries, mommy 🙂 I was tired during my first pregnancy, plus now I’m chasing a toddler around the house. It’s difficult keeping up with Juliana now that she’s on her feet!
Alexa says
Wow that is a lot of traveling and time in the car for a pregnant woman. They are a bit more strict over there about the traveling, aren’t they? My husband and I drove to his parents house upstate NY from SC (about 16 hours) when I was around 20 weeks pregnant. It was super duper uncomfortable, but luckily I didn’t have to pee constantly! The 3rd time I was pregnant we flew, thankfully, but I was only about 12 weeks pregnant. You definitely should take it easy if you’re having labor pains. I sneezed alot when I was pregnant too, and in the 2nd and 3rd pregnancies I had braxton hicks more frequently and they started a lot earlier! Hope you are feeling well these days!
French Mamma says
I think they are a little more strict over here. I keep hearing from women in the US and France and I’m seeing a pattern 🙂 Doctors in the US tell women that as long as they stop and rest every 2 to 3 hours, they’re free to travel until the 3rd trimester.
I’m doing much better now, thank you! I’m saving up my energy for the return flight home. I think my body is a little more sensitive when it comes to traveling when pregnant, so we’re going to not take any trips longer than 3 hrs for the rest of my pregnancy. It’ll be hard though… we love our roadtrips!
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Nicole says
Its funny because my doctor here was much more cool about travelling than any American dr I had ever seen- when I asked him to write a note for me to fly back to the States at Christmas (I would be 32 weeks on the return flight) he said, ‘You don’t need a note. Just tell them you are fat and only 20 weeks pregnant. They don’t have an ultrasound machine behine the counter!’ He thought flying was totally fine but its true that I found it very French (and very un-American) by how he thought driving in the car was much much worse.
By the way, I don’t know if you are trying to take only homeopathic medicines, but Spasfon is not homeopathic. And just as a side note, if they offer you the generic brand instead of actual Spasfon be aware that they aren’t actually identical and so they don’t work the same. I once bought 8 boxes at once of the generic (long story…) which ended up being a rather expensive mistake.