Sore stiff swollen fingers - anyone else?

[2ndDestiny]

Ok I know swelling in late pregnancy is normal, and I'm 37wks tomorrow. My fingers are so puffy that the joints stiffen up over night and are very painful when I wake up. It's hard to bend them and I'm having trouble getting the lids of jars/bottles etc. BP totally normal and MW says this is all normal and 'some women even have to wear splints' - can't get my head around how that would help but I think her point was that in my case it's not that bad. Anyone else have this? Will it go away when the baby comes?

It sounds similar to what I had in my first pg - carpal tunnel syndrome. I wore splints at night, and it eased the pain in my hands for the day ahead, as unlikely as it sounds! Can you ask your mw to refer you to the community physio? I was diagnosed at about 37 weeks, saw the physio within a day or so, and the exercises she gave me plus the splints really helped make those last couple of weeks more bearable. As soon as baby is born the pain will disappear promise! Good luck!

Thanks happynappies, I thought carpal tunnel was something in the wrist, shows what I know! I will press my mw about it as it's definitely getting worse, soooo glad to hear it goes when the baby comes out!

Well, it sort of is to do with the wrists, I think its a narrowing of the space where the nerves are in the wrists which means you get very painful hands, but can't exactly remember! Def. try to get to see someone to see if you can get splints, they might not work for you, but if its v. painful I'm sure you'll give anything a try! Hope you get somewhere with mw, don't be fobbed off about 'not being too bad in your case' - anything that makes life a bit better in the last few weeks is worth a shot in my book!

"anything that makes life a bit better in the last few weeks is worth a shot in my book!"

Yes, totally agree! I'm almost willing the baby to come a bit early, I'm so uncomfortable, even though I haven't really got everything ready yet...

Thanks for the tip, I might see if my local pharmacy has the splints, so I can get them straight away. Anything that helps...