Question about difficulty breathing

[ds0910]

Question ladies. I am 31wks with my baby girl who is measuring a week ahead of schedule, my second pregnancy (to make it past 5wks) and I am having a good deal of trouble breathing. I know shortness of breath is common but I am just concerned with how much is too much IYKWIM. Most of the day it is typical having to breath deep to catch my breath or getting out of breath reading a book to my 2yr old, but over the past couple days I have had a couple of spells that actually scared me, both while laying down on my side and sleeping. The last one happened last night and it was the worst one, I actually woke up trying to sit up with my lungs burning (like when you hold your breath too long) and gasping. Does anyone experience this?? I mentioned a lot of shortness of breath to my OB but he just said it was common and since I had it with my son that it gets worse with the second pregnancy.

I'm getting to the point that I am having an awful time sleeping as it is and this is just making it so much worse If it's just par for the course of a second pregnancy then great, at least I know all is well and I can deal for 9 more weeks till baby girl gets here. If anyone has this and knows of things to do to help I would LOVE to hear it. Thanks in advance!

 

[ds0910]

Anybody??

 

[jzgrace]

Have you talked to your doc about the sleep time episodes? I dont want to scare you, but I read about pregnancy induced sleep apnea which could explain gasping for air when waking. My doc told me to have dh watch me while I slept and if I stop breathing to count the seconds that I stopped for. Have you or dh noticed any recent super loud snoring? That is a sign.

 

[ds0910]

If he has he hasn't mentioned it. I've noticed that I will THINK I might have woken myself out of a twilight sleep a couple times. DH says I will snore every once in a while (when not pregnant) but he works weird hours at work, nights a lot of times and he falls asleep IMMEDIATELY upon laying down (which pisses me off to no end as I have always suffered from pretty severe insomnia), but I will ask him when I wake him up here in a bit. I certainly hope that's not it! I'm also starting to have the stuffy pregnancy head pretty bad so I am hoping it's just a combination of that and typical shortness of breath. Hubby is off this weekend so I will ask him to watch me sleep one night and see if he notices anything.

 

[jzgrace]

If that is the issue. It should happen fairly shortly after you fall asleep as people with apnea go into R.E.M sleep fairly fast! And thats when the apnea affects the breathing. My dd2 had this from 2 weeks til 5 years old. And no doctor would look into it until she was 5. I had to scout for doctors until I found one that would listen and take action. They sent her for a sleep study and found out the problem. Her adnoids were as large as an adults. Which is what caused her the apnea. I hope its just a cold or swollen sinuses for you. I sure its nothing to worry over I would tell dh to watch you for the first hour of sleep. And if he finds you stop breathing not to wake you right away. Iv he counts past 30 seconds then id report it to your doc.

 

[Carhar]

I have had the waking up gasping for breath this pregnancy and it is scary. Go get checked out it is probably just the baby, but it could be something more serious.

I was diagnosed at 34 weeks with a pulmonary embolism (blood clot) in my left lung. I only went in as I had a chest infection, however my heart rate was 140bpm. My GP referred me straightaway to hospital and I had scans, X-rays etc which confirmed the clot.

I hope it's just how the baby is sitting and when it drops your breathing eases x

 

[petitpas]

You mention being out of breath when reading a book to your son. That is not the same as being out of breath on exertion and should be checked out. Maybe see your general doctor about it?