maranui - I'm glad to hear that it resolved itself for you as it really isn't easy. I will certainly do the pelvic floor exercises as its one of the few activities I can do - probably end up with better streangth down there than I did after DS as a result. Unfortunatly as this has been since week 12 and only increasing I don't think it will get better till baby is out, still if it does I would be over the moon.

alioops - Thank you for reaching out to me, one of the things I am worried about is that I might very well end up in a wheel chair as I can't push myself much further than I am already doing. I might very well need a walking frame just to be able to get up and down off seats, as it is I have a second chair with arms on it to help with lowering me onto the toilet. Pregnancy and bathroom trips is annoying enough without needing to psyc yourself up first.

One of the MW's mentioned that the OBS might want to reccomend a CS, for me this is something I would really object too for a number of reasons. I used the gass last time and was given a pethidine shot but it only kicked in after DS was born (he was rather faster than expected) so I know I should be able to make it.

I had heard that it is more painful with this type of issue though so I had thought that I might conceed to an epidural early on though that scares me too. I hadn't thought that I might need to feel the pain to help direct those around me as to what to or not to do. I must admit I was beyond talking for most of the birth so I don't know if I could tell anyone anything even if I did need to. Thank you for bringing it up as I can see it is something I will need to take into serious consideration.

On the CS side of things I don't know if you had all the pros and cons discussed with you so you may or may not be able to help. From what I understand if I didn't go for the elective CS but had an emergency CS because I couldn't get through the delivery on the day they would more than likely have to cut across the muscles that wrap around the front of the tummy area. From what seems like common sense but I did also ask the physio if they do this then it is that much harder to strengthen everything afterwards to help recovery. However if I did the elective so it wasn't rushed then they could move the muscles aside therefore not need to damage me as much (though it would still be fairly rough). Does this sound like anything they discussed with you at all?

I honestly don't know what to do about this. I know that for me any intervention apart from the pethidine and gass is more likely to panic and stress me out but I don't want my fears to make me choose a path that will cause more damage in the long run. I can see your point about the very same reasons why the joints are a problem being good for a normal birth as there is more room to move so that is a positive I will be taking on board.

Oh one other question, was there any consideration to induce or try have the baby before the due date (thinking at 37 weeks not 40) so that the size is not as large and so that hopefully you can start recovery sooner? I don't want to harm my baby but at the moment she is kind of harming me so its a bit of give and take. Seems kind of unfair that even though I am going through this she is sitting there 100% happy, healthy and fine - its a good thing but still rather frustrating.

Anyway thank you both for sharing, I couldn't use the link for the birth story but I'll have a bit of a search and try find it. I'll just have to see what to do next.

Diana