Bladders!

[littleyellowchicken]

Why does my bladder never feel empty? I cannot drive for 45 minutes (journey to work) without feeling like I need to pull over in a field gateway.
I'm 21 weeks and thought the real needing to pee time was later on. I've just had the nurse test a sample and I don't have an infection but I feel like I need to go just as soon as I get off the loo.
Any ideas? Anyone else similiar?

I am like this some of the time (although it varies day to day) your baby may just be sitting in a position resting on your bladder! Sometimes it helps to lean forward when you wee....

littleyellowchicken you are not alone!!!! This might sound insane, but I almost cheered when I read your post because I was beginning to feel like a lone freak :)

From about 28 weeks I have also suffered from the feeling of not ever having an empty bladder. I got some good advice from another mumsnetter about retraining your bladder a bit. If you can add on another 5 or 10 minutes before you succumb to the loo and try to build that extension time up go, you will find you can stretch the time that you can hold off going - you might even manage a couple/few hours! I think with a baby on board, there is only so much you can do. This helped me, but it didn't get rid of the feeling of needing the loo - like my bladder was never really empty. All I can offer by way of consolation is that you sort of get used to it.

I am now 34+3 and the feeling of pressure is pretty intense now so I can't promise you that it will go away - but it might. Every pregnancy is different and you may find that baby shifts a bit for you. I think I am very low lying and I have SPD which drags everything down and adds extra pressure. You may fare better!

Rest assured though that you have a fellow sufferer and total sympathiser here!

Meant to say also that the disappearance of bladder issues in the second trimester can be a bit of a myth. Again, not for everyone, but a friend of mine had them all the way through her pregnancy.