Before I had my first baby, I was cycling or jogging to work every day. I knew I wouldn’t be able to keep this up throughout my pregnancy, but I had a vision of walking to and from work, then practicing prenatal yoga every day, to keep myself strong and supple as my baby grew.
I managed this for about 16 weeks, and then the pain started. A jarring, aching pain throughout my pelvis and groin, which then spread into my sacroiliac joint (the big bony bit at the bottom of your back). Within a few weeks, I found it difficult to walk. I remember asking my mum to slow down as she walked ahead of me one day, as I couldn’t keep up. Before I’d always be the one who was rushing ahead, and now I could only take baby steps, very slowly.
Thanks to my sister, who had had similar pain in her pregnancies, I discovered I had pregnancy-related pelvic girdle pain (PGP). It’s hard to describe the pain of PGP, but if you imagine someone taking your pelvis and pushing one half up and one half down, then banging on your sacroiliac joint repeatedly with a large hammer, you’ll get an idea. PGP affects 1 in 5 pregnant women, and makes it hard to do everyday tasks, like sitting, standing, climbing stairs, turning over in bed or walking. My pregnancy turned into a vision of months of pain, having to carefully plan every trip to minimise walking or sitting on hard chairs, and feeling constantly exhausted after the smallest activity.
My midwife was sympathetic but did not offer a physio referral until I asked for it, instead suggesting it was just one of those things we have to put up with in pregnancy. It was the same story in my second pregnancy, when I was a different part of the country. In both pregnancies, I ended up on crutches, in constant pain, and utterly miserable. I looked forward to the pain of labour as I couldn’t believe it would be worse than PGP.
We had always wanted three children, but we had to consider how a third pregnancy would affect our lives and my mental health. PGP can be incredibly isolating – I have many friends who’ve struggled to conceive, and I felt I couldn’t complain about my pregnancy, as it was something I had chosen and was lucky to be able to do at all. It was hard to play with my son during my second pregnancy (I couldn’t sit on the floor, run after him or pick him up), and I worried that he would blame his unborn sibling for spoiling our fun. We’d also need to pay for extra childcare, and account for my husband taking extra time off – he’d had to help me get dressed in the morning and sometimes to pick me up off the toilet.
If I hadn’t found the Pelvic Partnership, I don’t think we’d have had our beautiful daughter, Emme. They told me about manual therapy treatment, and explained what that involved. I found a great physio and immediately started to improve, so that my third pregnancy was a completely different, positive experience.
The Pelvic Partnership is a tiny UK charity with a simple, life-changing message: PGP is treatable. Through their Stickmum campaign, they provide women and healthcare professionals with information about best practice for treatment and management of pregnancy-related PGP. Their website is packed with information and real stories from
women who have experienced PGP. They work with health professionals to improve the understanding of PGP so that more women can get an early diagnosis and referral for treatment, reducing long-term costs to the NHS.
Their new Stickmum video , follows one mum, Becky, as she receives manual therapy from her physio. In a recent study, the Pelvic Partnership found that, although manual therapy is available on the NHS, more than half of women surveyed were never offered a referral for physio, and 43% of women felt their symptoms were never taken seriously. Two thirds reported mental health problems as a result of PGP. Other studies have shown that 10-19% of those with PGP in pregnancy still have significant symptoms 11 and 12 years later.
I was so determined that other women shouldn’t go through what I’d been through that I asked the Pelvic Partnership if I could volunteer to help with their Stickmum campaign. We want to create a chain of women supporting each other. You can help by sharing our campaign page and videos, or following us on Twitter and sharing our campaign tweets and hashtags #pgpistreatable #getamummoving.
If you need help with pelvic pain, please don’t wait - visit our website or our Facebook page. You are not alone.
Laura will be back to answer any questions you may have at 8pm on 20/02/2019
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Guest post: “I looked forward to the pain of labour as I couldn’t believe it would be worse than PGP.”
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MumsnetGuestPosts · 18/02/2019 11:09
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Geoxxx ·
19/02/2019 00:16
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