Worried about pelvic pain - 14 weeks pregnant

[FirstTime867]

15 weeks pregnant today, with my first. The last 10 days or so I've started having some pelvic pain on and off, not a big deal at first. But since Saturday evening it's been agony. Hurts to sit, hurts to walk. I read this is common in the third trimester but does this mean I'm going to be like this the whole pregnancy? It's miserable!

I was just out of the absolute misery of the first trimester, back into exercise and was feeling great! Maybe I overdid it with exercise although I felt great during it! I was doing resistance training, low weights, squats etc.

I've tried pilates but it triggers lots of pain in my lower stomach, every single time I have to stop after 15 minutes.

I used to be very fit before pregnancy so I was not expecting to be this debilitated so early on.

I looked on the pregnancy board but can't see anyone else with pelvic pain so early on so posting in AIBU for traffic.

Congratulations on your pregnancy.

I think this is just a sign that you are over doing it. I'd be careful of doing squats whilst pregnant as this may be aggravating any pregnancy-muscle stretching that is happening anyway. If in any doubt, do call your midwife or doctor.

If you haven't already done so do try and get someone to review your exercises (e.g. a trainer at your gym) to ensure that they are all suitable for each stage of your pregnancy.

If you have to stop a particular exercise such as some pilates moves then I gently suggest that those are the ones you should not be doing at all at the moment. I found for instance that even some moves supposedly suitable for pregnancy just didn't work for me as they induced pain. So if your body doesn't like an exercise just stop doing that one and try and different one. It is a bit of trial and error at this stage of pregnancy as what will be comfortable for one woman will not be for another.

Lastly, do take it easy. Don't feel pressure to continue the same amount of training you did before pregnancy. Going for gentle flat walks and warm baths really does help with ligament pain.

Sounds like round ligament pain. I think it eased off after a while.

I hate to have to say it, but are you absolutely certain you don't have an ectopic pregnancy?

If this is pelvic girdle pain, which is sounds like it might well be, it is quite common but not "normal" - I.e you shouldn't have to put up with it! It's all thanks to the relaxin hormone that is loosing up you muscles, allowing your pelvis to widen.
It's important to get on top of it as soon as you can so ask your gp or midwife for a referral to a women's physio.
In the meantime, take it easy, reduce weightbearing, keep your knees parallel (pillow between your legs at night).
Good luck!

Thanks everyone! I have made a private physio appointment with a physio who specialises in pelvic pain and women's issues for Thursday morning. Was just wondering if anyone else has started having these so early on in the pregnancy as the advice online suggests I'll probably have it till the very end, I actually sobbed reading that as this weekend was miserable! And the first trimester was so shit, I literally only had maybe 2 weeks of feeling almost "normal" 😥 I'm work now getting teary about how awful being pregnant has been.

Agree I was overdoing it so will stay away from squats etc. But not being able to do yoga and pilates either, I'm a bit stumped with what to do for exercise other than swimming which is not practical more than once a week. I have the appetite of a 17 year old boy so I don't want to get too fat either and get diabetes or high blood pressure either.

@Thelnebriati not ectopic. I'm 15 weeks, I've seen the baby already

I had a lot of ligament pain with both my pregnancies. Almost felt like period pain. It does ease off, exercise helped a lot. As long as everything else is normal, I imagine it's this. It's really common.

Is there a reason you can't do yoga or Pilates. I just carried on at the gym as normal but obviously had a safety check with a professional and just changed a few things to allow for my pregnancy. The only thing I struggled with was spinning. What about walking? Swimming is great.

Sorry I've just seen that pilates was uncomfortable. Is is worth looking for a pregnancy yoga class that will be adapted safely? I imagine a lot of this discomfort will be temporary, I don't remember it continuing on much past 3/4 months.

I had agonising pain from 26 weeks onwards.

I mean I couldn’t sit. Stay. Sit still. Move. Lay down. I mean it massively impacted my life to the point I had to take huge amounts of painkillers (from the dr obviously)

I kept going to the hospital saying there was no way it was ‘normal’ and they kept sending me home saying I was an anxious first time mum.

I ended up in hospital for a year when they missed a catastrophic event that was actually happening.

sinfe then I tell mothers to follow your gut. I was right and we know something is going on

so keep an eye on it.

I had PGP throughout my pregnancies from approx 16 weeks I am sorry to say - would recommend seeing a physiotherapist who specializes in pregnancy as they can also teach you ways to minimize pain. Also, rest as much as you can. I was given crutches at about 24 weeks both times to minimize my pain when walking. Hopefully yours won’t be that bad - mine did go away pretty much as soon as the baby was born.

I had pelvic girdle pain which did not ease off, it started around 15 weeks and by 30 weeks I couldn't walk more than five minutes some days. By 37 weeks I couldn't really walk at all, I shuffled. It didn't go fully after the birth so I had physio, and she told me I should have been on crutches.

You've done the right thing getting a private appointment with a women's health physio early in. They should be able to relieve it and keep you moving. Honestly, yes it was miserable, I lost a lot of fitness and felt trapped.

ETA - I had severe nausea in the first trimester and well into the second, so pregnancy really was pretty shit for me unfortunately! I haven't done it again...

I don't know if this is good news or bad news but I had pelvic pain from about 14/15 weeks in both my pregnancies. The midwife said it wasn't unusual. She referred me for NHS physio when I was pregnant with DS but they didn't call till he was nearly 3 😂 So good idea to go private! Hope you feel better soon.

I was in agony with it at about 20 weeks and it turned out my pelvis was slightly misaligned - I think it was when I slipped while running - and I saw a specialist physio who did a manipulation and solved the whole thing. I was then able to keep running and exercising for the rest of the pregnancy. Fingers crossed the specialist will be able to work a similar thing for you

Congrats on your pregnancy.

This is a brilliant website for advice on pelvic girdle pain in pregnancy

https://pelvicpartnership.org.uk/

I had PDP and ligament pain quite early on. The midwife felt I would likely be on crutches half way through the pregnancy however the two things that significantly helped were a pregnancy belt that velcros around you and holds some of the weight (yes even early on!) and swimming. Perhaps consider if you could get 2 swims in per week, it was that combo cation for me that really helped, and no crutches.