Bladder weakness, pregnancy and exercise

[MysteriousFalafel]

Looking for some tips please! I’m 18 weeks pregnant with number 3 and still running and going to the gym but the peeing myself has now got to a point I can’t ignore

I tried a pad (only a cheap one to be fair) and it’s absolutely rubbed me raw. Does anyone have any recommendations for either pads or maybe underwear? I am doing pelvic floor exercises as well but so far not much joy from those. I don’t want to stop running yet as I really love it so need to try and resolve this.

Have you seen a women's health / pelvic physio? My midwife referred me to one when I had similar issues when pregnant with DD2 and she was amazing. She did an internal check to make sure I was doing my pelvic floor exercises as effectively as possible, and she gave me tips on how to adjust them specifically for pregnancy (basically as you get late on in pregnancy, you shouldn't be doing them standing up).

Whilst working on my pelvic floor, I wore incontinence pants instead of pads, as I found those a bit more comfortable.

I’ve had a phone call with a physio but that’s all that’s on offer apparently although I have seen someone a few years ago so I’m reasonably confident I’m doing them right but you never know do you! Did you use just normal Tena pants? I’ve been looking at the washable ones I wondered if they’d chafe a bit less.

Would period pants be of any help? I don’t know if they would be absorbent enough but they would be more comfortable than pads and should last through a short workout.

I used a mix of tena pants and M&S reusable period pants that I already have. I didnt find the period pants to be as absorbant, but they worked as a bit of a stop gap whilst I was seeing the physio. I didnt do any running though so can't vouch for them whilst running - my main exercise in pregnancy was swimming. I saw improvements very quickly once she had tweaked my pelvic floor technique.

I think the cheeky pants ones are a bit more geared towards incontinence so might give them a whirl. Thanks