Still in pain from the birth... will this happen next birth?

Hi,

I gave birth to my beautiful DD 8 weeks ago now and I'm STILL having pain in my lower back region in my tailbone. I believe I cracked it again during the pushing stage. I cracked my tailbone when I was young, falling hard on cement and it has never been the same. When I was pushing for nearly 2hrs to birth my DD, at one stage I felt a loud crack in my tailbone (it was awful!) and thought "uh oh!" but then quickly forgot about it as I focused on birthing my DD!

Since the birth, my tailbone has been so bruised and sore and I thought it would feel better after a couple of weeks and that it was only because she was posterior :o and that contributed to the bruising etc.... however it turns out I did crack it while pushing.

Has this happened to you during birth? And if so, did it happen again for your second birth? I hope it doesn't happen again because I'm still sitting on a ring pillow that my Mum bought for me!!!! Hard seats and chairs I can't sit on for long as i'm too uncomfortable and even soft lounge chairs hurt me after a while :( I just would have thought that 8 weeks on.... I'd be feeling not so sore down there.

I didn't have any cracks when I gave birth to DD just over a year ago, but I was in pain from giving birth for about 3 months.
Did you mention anything at your 6 week check up? Perhaps book in to see your GP or for a post natal physio examination.

I havent experienced this before but I would go get it checked out again to make sure it's healing as it should and ask if there is anything you can take while breastfeeding.

Double post...

One of my mum's group friends broke her tailbone during birth! OUCH.............
She is still in pain and that was 7 months ago....
It has gotten better over time but not the same as it was.

None of us had heard of that before we met her but apparently it happens a fair bit! (Especially if you have already cracked it previously)

I will message her and see if she has any advice, she has just moved OS so bear with me wile I make contact!!

:hug: I have heard of people who have broken their coccyx bone and it has healed slightly inwards, which means that when a baby is born, it pushes the bone outwards, often breaking it - so it might depend on how it heals? Hopefully it heals outward.

My disclaimer to this is that I really have no idea, and am just passing on what I've heard. Maybe at some stage you could get an xray to see where things are at? Hope the pain stops for you soon.

Actually, I just remembered that a friend of mine broke her tailbone when she had her first child. She's now got 3 kids and her oldest is 5 years old. She still has a little bit of pain but it's not unbearable, she just notices it now and then if she does too much but says it's more of a discomfort than actual pain.

Thanks for your replies. :D

It's more discomfort than pain.... at first it was pain in the first couple of weeks if sitting for too long it's very sore and feels quite sharp when i get up. But the last few weeks it's just discomfort. Constant reminder!
I might arrange to see a physio & a possible x-ray just to see how it is healing? Had my 6wk GP checkup and she said it should just heal on it's own.
I don't mind so much, my little girl was worth all the pain in the world. Just want to hear others stories.

Ren - ouch!

I broke my coccyx about thirteen years ago and I *still* can't stand any direct pressure on it. I don't have any issues with it during childbirth, however, fortunately.

Here's a tip - when you are sitting, stick a big thick book under one buttock so that you aren't putting any pressure at all on your tailbone. This is particularly helpful when you are driving and rolling around on that area a fair bit.

Hi Renstar,the x-ray & Physio sounds like a great place to start,I was also thinking of maybe some Actur-puncture,it works quite well,you could ask your Doctors,there`s nothing worse than any kind of pain in your back or tail bone.....good luck, hun.:hug:

Thanks girls.

Yeah I saw my Acupuncturist 3 weeks ago and told her about it and she said she'd be able to help me but I don't feel it really did much. I think the pillow Mum bought me has helped.

I've kind of put it on the 'to do later' list as I've been so busy looking after my DD but now that things are settling down a little and I can focus that little bit more on my health!! I will make an appointment with a physio I think.

Ouchies, this is something I'll be aware of now, thanks Ren!

I too broke my coccyx playing soccer (the one and only time I ever did, how's that for luck?) as a teenager. But in my x-rays it's kinda pointing to the side, so hopefully not in the way for my vbac whenever that happens.

I do remember not being able to sit on hard floors for months though, Ren. Didn't bother me walking and such, but sitting took ages to feel okay. Hope you heal quickly!

(Oh, and as a side point, when I saw someone about it they pretty much said there was nothing they could do from the bone POV, so it's only down to pain relief, I think).

My DS1's big head dislocated mine in childbirth. It went unnoticed because it wasnt causing any pain afterwards and then one day a few weeks later I had this huge sneeze and it popped back in. I apparently damaged the soft tissue around it when it popped back in and it has never been the same since. I can't even sit in the car for too long on our drives to QLD without having to shift for comfort. Its a constant pain.

I would recommend getting it checked just to make sure that it is just healing and you cant damage it any further.