Daft question, but giving birth with pelvic pain?

[CrazyChristmasLady]

I don't know if I actually have this but my pelvis is killing me. I am in loads of pain and can hardly walk at the moment and it just aches a lot.

How the hell are you suppose to give birth with your legs open when you can only take small steps for walking and if I want to go out properly in the next 5 or so weeks, I am going to have to hire a wheelchair to get around?

This is DC2. Had back pain with DS but nothing like this. Got sciatic pain, back is agony to the point I want to cry and hips and pelvis are all so painful I can't sleep at the moment.

And I've had such a great pregnancy

I had a wheelchair for the last couple months for pelvic pain.
I was told to simply not open my legs for giving birth - a baby isn't that wide! I put a big pink postit on my notes to warn all staff not to make me open my legs for any exams etc, also as advised. I laboured for about 10 hours in the bath, on a kneeling-supportive beanbag, and in the hospital pool, and the pelvis wasn't a problem for all that.

wheelfreedom.com do great wheelchairs and deliver to the door, if you can't get a decent one from the Red Cross for free.

I had SPD and delivered kneeling amd leaning forwards, no leg-opening involved. And the lovely thing is that most of the time the pain is just gone straight away afterwards. good luck!

You don't have to open your legs wide to give birth in most natural positions. For example kneeling on all fours or on side with legs drawn up. Difficulties most likely with an epidural when you can't feel what is painful. A good tip is to measure how far you can comfortably part your knees and measure with string. Cut length of string to this length and take it with you in labour to ensure your knees are not parted more than this length whether you can feel the pain or not.

Have you asked your midwife to refer you for treatment? The physio will lend you crutches or a wheelchair if you need it. If you can afford a chiropractor, mine worked wonders.

If you google the pelvic partnership they have tips for birthing with PGP. Most important is not sitting on your tailbone, so sidelying, upright or on all 4s.

Speak to your midwife about the pain you are in at the moment. I had very severe SPD and had to use crutches to get around. You should get a pretty much instant referral to a physio who will recommend exercises and give you crutches if you need them.

The good news is that it won't affect your birth, in fact, one midwife told me that it can actually help the birth process in a bizarre way. Firstly, you are so used to being in constant pain, it lessens the impact of the labour pains (though I realise this isn't your first). I found this to be the case to be honest. I was on syntocin which I was warned would be horrific, but having endured pain for most of the pregnancy, my tolerance was a bit higher I think. Secondly, SPD makes all the ligaments very relaxed which is no bad thing. However, as Ingrid Fletcher advised, you would want to check how far you can go first in case you have an epidural. This could all be nonsense, of course!

I didn't have an epidural (I was one of the freaky few for whom it wasn't successful) and although I ended in a section, I did labour and start to push and found being on my knees and leaning on the bed was absolutely fine. All fours is good and comfortable for SPD.

Sorry, this has been very long, but on a final note, I entered the hospital on crutches and left without them!

Co-codamol is slightly better than paracetemol for the pain by the way!

The nonsense I mean is what I am talking about and not what IngridFletcher said. Just re-read my mail and realised it reads badly :)

I had severe SPD too with DD. Was given all the advice the others have said, but unfortunately ended with a ELCS as my pain was just too severe. Wish someone had told the surgeon I had SPD though, he dropped my legs apart to fit the catheter! I was anaesthatised by then but still felt it crunch

I would chat to your MW asap about the pain, you'll get seen pretty quick by physio, and your consultant should be able to sort you some decent pain relief once you are 30 weeks - I was on codeine, which worked quite well. And it is true that most of the time it clears up really quickly - by day 3 I was walking the length of the hospital unaided, I was desperate to be upright and I dropped the cruthces into the physio department as I left with DD on day 5!