How often do you pee?

[Cakemuncher]

Hello.
I have spent quite a bit of time reading posts but decided to take the plunge, sign up and put up one of my own in the hope that I might get some replies that make me and my bladder seem a bit more normal than they do right now.

I have always had what you might call a sensitive bladder but now, at almost 29 weeks, it has gone into hyperdrive in that I am in a permanent state of needing the loo. I finish one pee and as soon as I walk away from the loo, the next one demands urgent attention. I have been checked out and am not retaining any insane amount of urine in my bladder, but I feel constant pressure in my bladder. Midwife has said that frequent urination is normal enough even at this stage and that it is probably exagerated in me and that it should all go back to its pre-pregnancy ways after the birth. She was horrified at how much I needed the loo. Please tell me this is true. Trying not to obsess about it, but that is proving hard.

I am hoping that someone else out there will say "yep, that was me too" so that I won't feel like such a freak. On the upside, I don't have incontinence. Whoohoo, I think.

Oh you poor thing, I am way behind you time-wise 9 weeks tomorrow but getting up to pee in the night every 2 hours at the mo and it is killing me! I can't imagine what i'll be like at your stage. When you say you were checked out, was it your GP? i wonder if you could ask to see a specialist, if only for some techniques on how to manage it so you can lead a slightly more comfortable pregnancy

I need to pee way more than I ever have had before. Before I was pregnant I NEVER needed to get up in the night, now its a success if I only have to get up twice!

Generally my trips to the toilet follow the format of:

Pee, Stand Up, Wiggle, Sit down, pee, stand up, wiggle, sit down, pee, wiggle.....

It generally takes several attempts to get it over and down with. Then repeat all over again a few minutes later.

Rocking back and forwards also helps.

Thanks folks! Coraltoes,I was sent to the endlessly patient folk at maternity assessment. I was seen, poked, prodded and cathatered by the registrar there who assured me there is nothing physically wrong with me...which is great, but I still feel at times like I am going to loose all my marbles before to long. Will try the rocking PickleSarnie.

I am sending out daily messages to the LO that I would greatly appreciate her arrival at 38 weeks rather than 42!

hi there cake. did you know you can "re-train" your bladder, so that you don't need to go as much? i went to see a consultant about this during my first pregnancy. greatly to my dismay he ordered me to drink vast amounts of water every day (my instinct was to hardly drink anything at all - which is apparently the worst thing you can do) and not go to the loo until i was absolutely bursting. this, he said, would teach my bladder not to demand attention at the slightest quantity of liquid arriving. from memory you should aim for at least 300mls every time you wee. (! yes, it does involve a measuring jug to begin with, but you'll soon work out roughly how much that means.)
If you are currently going to the loo every half hour, he said, try to extent it to every hour; then every two hours (or hour and a half) and so on. you actually have to time it, to begin with, to get out of the bad habits. he explained that the bladder is a muscle, and it needs to be exercised to stay in good shape.
i was pretty about all this, but feeling desperate, so i gave it a go. and hey presto, after a couple of weeks , i noticed a huge difference. i can't say it was a pleasant experience 'retraining' my bladder, but it was so worth it. i no longer plan trips to the shops around whether there's a loo nearby, and for the rest of my pregnancy, went to the loo at normal intervals.

I think I will try that sotough. Did you find that the actual feeling of needing the loo receded after the couple of weeks? That would be wonderful!

yes, cake it really did. i'm not going to pretend it was any fun getting to that point - i clearly remember once being absolutely desperate for the loo on the tube, having set off on the journey already needing the loo, and being in real discomfort trying to hold on! - but i was amazed by the results. i would describe it as life changing, but you have to really give it your all, putting up with the pain of needing the loo really badly, and be prepared to try to drink at least 1.5 litres of water a day. (i was actually told 2 litres, but found that a ridiculous, totally unrealistic amount.) The upside of this is that your skin will look fantastic! i'd be really interested to hear if it works for you. i can't remember exactly how long it took for me to start noticing the difference but it was at least two to three weeks i think. it might be worth checking with your doctor just in case there is any concern about urine infection. this wasn't mentioned to me as a risk but when i started doing the retraining i was much earlier on in pregnancy than you. just worth running by someone.

Thanks v. much stough. Midwife yesterday mentioned doing something similar (seeing if I could go for 4 hours without pee-ing) which I didn't think was immediately achievable! Building up sounds more reasonable but, as you say, I will run it past someone.

Thanks to everyone really for sharing their peeing experiences. Now don't start me on the constipation...only kidding!

four hours sounds awful - i'm not sure i ever reached those dizzy heights, even at the peak of my training! if you can manage 2.5hrs to 3hrs, that would be pretty good!

Am 14+4 and it feels like i need a wee evry ten minutes at the moment and I know its only gonna get worse!!

MissC, you might well get some respite soon. I was fine during the second trimester. The whole thing only started to kick off again at week 26/27.

sotough, meant to ask you, what did you do at night? Did you hold on then as well for as long as possible? I am averaging a visit every hour or so.

Forgotten what a good night's sleep is like. DH is lucky I am too spaced when I get up otherwise the sight of his angelic, sleeping face might well send me into paroxysms of jealous rage!

Have to say that, of all the pregnancy gubbins I've had, including SPD, this is definitely the worst...might change my mind during labour though.

Sorry if im repeating what anyone else has said, not had time to read every post, Im 17 weeks pregnant and peeing loads too, before i was pregnant i had a couple of urine infections and needed antibiotics to clear it up, it was agony, and just like how op described, massive pressure down there, i would go and see your doctor or practise nurse and have your wee tested, just to double check it isnt an infection, in the meantime, as a precauton, drink lots of water and cranberry juice to flush it out

Thanks Kelly, but it is definitely not a UTI - have done more wees into tiny bottles recently than I can remember!