You ladies are absolutely amazing to still go on despite the pain and still keep a smiling face on.
My situation is not as bad as most of yours but I find night time lying in bed (or just lying in bed in general) bad. I have been sleeping with a pillow between my legs and a body pillow to support my stomach or back, but I find rolling over and getting up absolutely excurtiating. I have taken to rolling "under", getting up on my hands and knees like I am going to crawl to roll over but it doesn't help the pain at all. I even had to get up and sit on the side of the bed the other night just to change sides. It will also take me at least 5 minutes of being up and about to be able to walk properly. During the day I might get a slight twinge but nothing like that. Does anyone have any advice or is this something that is going to get worse until I have bubs?
Also, does anyone else feel thier pelvis clunk like a joint cracking? I get that at least once a night as well and was wondering if it was common.
Last edited by Little Chicken; July 15th, 2010 at 09:41 PM.
: Adding something
muminalice - it will probably get worse but maybe not. Most people find that it does but sometimes the position of the baby and its increased weight can actually work to stabilise the pelvis. Make sure the pillow is between your knees. If you're not already doing so, it's important to ice your pelvis. I ice throughout the day and go to bed with a pack between my legs. DD now sometimes insists on taking an ice pack to bed with her I've found ice is THE best thing to keep the pain under control.
As far as getting in and out of bed is concerned, I haven't mastered it either. The key is to keep your knees together but I'm particularly unco and can't quite work out how to do that. I agree, those few minutes where you don't know if you can actually stand up and walk are the worst part of the day.
I honestly cannot believe how I have done this all on my own with 2 toddlers for 9 months!!!! I go in today for some CTG monitoring and find out when my c-sec is... next week??? I HOPE!!!!
My mum is such great help with the kids ... I am so so blessed!!
Mumainlice - I get clunking through the back sacroiliac joints when I'm in bed, but not at the front. My osteo is forever telling me to turn on my pelvic floor muscles before I do ANYTHING (i.e. getting up, rolling over etc) and it does seem to help (not always, but sometimes!). As for the smiling face... weeeell mine has definitely slipped at times but I keep on keeping on! In regard to whether it get's worse or not, well mine was much milder last PG and pretty much stabilised at 30 weeks.. don't think it will this time tho. How are you feeling now?
fionas - you sound like you've got this very well sussed, I'll have to keep picking your brains! I probably sound like a broken record, but I think you're amazing to cope so well.
Didi - I've said congrats elsewhere... but I hope we don't see you back in here for your sake
AFM, well I've proved to myself that the support belt definitely leaves me feeling worse not better - it just does something to my front ab muscles.... they just cramp. So my physio has suggested a tubigrip support bandage instead. Looks very sexah NOT lol. My mum went home on Monday so this week has been challenging. Tues night/weds morning I thought were gonna be crutches time with a lot of trouble standing but then it settled again and I've kept those crutches dusty for another week woo hoo. Am still working out how to juggle being housebound with minimal pain (cos i"ve done nothing) versus getting out & about but then suffering afterwards. In the meantime am organising lots of playdates. Have also managed to reduce picking up DS by an amazing degree. Baths have been covered by DH doing the lift in & out and I can do the "in-bath" stuff by kneeling carefully and getting into a good position - it helps if I can get up very slowly and carefully afterwards while DH has DS. Housework/chores have just been minimised and I do things in little bursts of activity with rests in between which seems to help. Still can't believe how much I've always taken for granted being able to walk/go to the playground/run errands/pick up shopping - this is a different way of life. Am working on my baby girl excitement which is helping. Plus I'm on insulin now for GD so probably won't go past 38-39 weeks... so only about 8 weeks to go woohoo.
Belfie - re the being housebound with minimal pain versus getting out and about and paying for it afterwards, that essentially is THE dilemma with this. The killer for me was the 18 month recovery last time so I'm doing all I can to avoid that. I know if I minimise the pain during the pregnancy this time then I have a much better chance of recovering a lot sooner. So I've 'chosen' (not that it's much of a choice) the housebound route rather than being more active but being in a lot of pain.
The other thing is that this time around it struck really early for me and I really wasn't sure, even if I managed it well with minimal activity, belt, icing, pilates, how bad it would get so there was the fear of the unknown. I guess I reached a point a few weeks ago where I got really confident about my limits and confident that if I stuck within those limits that I could minimise the pain. I may have said this before in this thread, but last week I went to the physio and we high-fived each other. I basically said I'd beaten this bloody SPD because I'm in so little pain. Almost about to give birth, I'm in less pain now that I was 12 months POSTNATALLY last time. Don't get me wrong, I've had to make HUUUUUUUUUUUUUGE adjustments to my life to do that but as long as the recovery this time around is shorter, then I will be really pleased.
What I'm trying to say is that you will figure out for yourself what you can and can't do to keep the pain under control and you'll probably find that you'll feel much less frustrated once you have because you're dealing with the known rather than the unknown, if that makes sense. You'll kind of know, OK, if I walk this far then it will mean x amount of pain for x amount of time, sort of thing.
Didi, I must have missed your BA... Congratulations on the birth of Nate!! So glad your SPD has gone.
Belfie, the support belt does nothing for me. I find it uncomfortable to wear and it doesn't reduce my pain, so this pg I am not using it. Not to say it isn't great for others.
I have been soooo careful this pg and have not done anything to aggravate my pelvis. I am very careful getting in and out of the car, rolling over in bed, not sitting on the floor with crossed legs.... constantly conscious of my pelvis. And it's working... I still have pain, but nowhere near the same as my last two pg's at this stage. Interesting, usually my SI joints are most painful, but this time my SP is giving me more trouble. It's starting to ache any time I stand... good excuse to lie on the couch I reckon!! Anyway, I know I still have a long way to go, but I am being careful, being positive and hoping to get through without the agony I experienced the last two times!
Someone mentioned clunking? I've just started to 'clunk' a little. I can feel the bones in my SP rub against each other when I roll over... not pleasant!!
heys thought I might join. was also reading the pelvic instability association website. thanks to everyone for sharing your stories.
My pain is (so far) in the left sacroiliac joints at the back which is annoying. Today I've just been moping and reading up on it all, it doesn't look like a fun journey to be sharing with you all.
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I've found ice is THE best thing to keep the pain under control.
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