Spd becoming impossible, midwife speaking to consultant. What might happen?

[cupcake78]

After a week of increasing pain and immobility yesterday I finally cracked (37+3).

I called the labour ward in tears to ask for advise on how to manage the pain that is now stopping me from putting one foot in front of the other. I'm climbing stairs on all fours and getting stuck after standing up as seizing up for 3-4 minutes at a time.

I explained what I'm doing to help myself (everything) to be reassured there is nothing more that can be suggested and as such the sister of the labour ward will discuss this with my extremely laid back consultant tomorrow when he's next in.

My consultant has seen me once (34 wks) as baby is measuring 4+ wks (just to add to the extra discomfort ) but he wasn't bothered. He knows about the spd as i was already on crutches. Told me to go back to see him on my due date as I generally was very healthy and he wasn't concerned about any of it. Apparently this is standard procedure for this consultant, he doesn't scan etc. He is lovely and I believe he knows what he's doing.

Basically I'm wondering what might happen. I would live them to offer me a sweep for the help to get baby out to start now but I don't want to build my hopes up.

love or

Poor you. I can't off advice as I had spd but no where near as bad.

I would say you definately need to plan for your birth though to avoid damage when delivering. I think you are meant to open your legs as far as you are comfortable then measure that distance. During birth you are not meant to open your legs more than that.

Hopefully someone more knowledgeable will be along soon. you have spd - it sucks.

No idea what you'll be told, but wanted to offer my sympathy. I'm only 25+6 and already in a lot of pain and crawling up the stairs. Have you been in touch with the Pelvic Partnership? They give very good advice on dealing with people caring fir you and will help you ask for what you need. Good luck.

*for

And actually, irrelevant to anyone else, but I've just realised I'm only 24+6 .

I was in your situation for my first baby. It's horrible and wouldn't wish it upon anyone.

I must admit I was rather clueless on the best practice for dealing with SPD during labour and just let the staff get on with getting my baby out. However I have since learnt that this has probably damaged my pelvis and is having a substantial effect on my current pregnancy (pelvis is actually clicking when I move now, think nails on a chalk board).

If I could go back I would insist that that my legs were not separated beyond a comfortable distance (I had an epidural so didn't feel a thing and to be honest it never crossed my mind at the time), I would also state that if they could not intervene e.g. Forceps, insist on a c-section if the baby isn't coming naturally.

It sounds a lot worse than it was, I had a fab midwife and a great consultant but I wish I had more information on SPD re labour and delivery so I could avoid my current situation and possible future issues.

I would write everything down and tell your birth partner exactly what you want, if you have an epidural etc... You might not be in the right frame of mind to fight your corner. My husband was excellent at taking charge when needed and really couldn't have done it without him.

Apologies for the long post but I hope it helps you. If you have another q's please ask.

I have no experience with any of this but could you possibly go for a private sweep? Not sure if that would be safe just an idea I had

Booboo were you induced or left to labour naturally? My SPD is weird. It's taking weight on one leg that is the real killer for me. Especially if I've been sat down or its the end of the day. By 6pm I'm paralysed with the pain and can do nothing but go to bed. Separating my legs seems to be ok but can lead to pain afterwards. I have written all over my birth plan that i have spd and put in restrictions.

It's seems to be the weight thats really affecting it over the distance my legs are apart. Lifting my right leg is agony to the point its impossible now without crutches. Getting in and out the shower is agony as its over the bath and a chair doesn't help as i still need to lift my legs over the side! Left leg is also agony but can be done! Turning corners in the car hurts a lot and this week driving has become very painful. When I'm lying down it just burns with every move.

I'm hoping once my waters have gone and the weight has reduced it will equal out the feeling of pressure.

I've been refused a water birth and honestly I can understand why as I doubt I could get out of the bath if I needed to. I don't particularly want a c section, I'm not even desperate for an epidural as my hospital has a new patient controlled drug that I could use with gas and air.

With everyday it gets worse I worry how much damage this is doing to my body and the emotional impact is becoming very hard to manage.

I haven't looked into a private sweep but I doubt at this stage finding someone having a consultation and then sweep would be any faster than getting to my due date and insisting. I know they will do one when I'm 40wks but that's another 2.5 weeks away by which I can honestly say I will be in a wheelchair. The recovery after birth will surely be longer the worse it gets!

Poor you. It sounds so horrible. In fact, I know it is as I've been there. First, you're not weird. PGP can vary between women and the term has been deliberately widened to reflect this. Mine was similar to yours and I had no pain at all when separating my legs but couldn't walk, drive or stop spasming.

Two bits of good news. Although it may not completely, instantly vanish when you give birth, as so many people will tell you, it will almost certainly feel a lot, lot better immediately. You are not doing yourself permanent damage at the moment. Second, my PGP got a lot better around 38/39 weeks. The midwife thought it was a combination of the baby moving down and hormonal changes. Whatever, it meant that I was able to stop using crutches.

The Pelvic Partnership website is really great, especially for ammunition if faced with thick doctors. I had to explain to a registrar that no, an epidural for me would not be the best thing, and in fact if could be very damaging, that yes, a water birth would be fine (many women find the pain eases once they're in labour) and was actually recommended because it offered more freedom of movement, and that I really could have cocodamol!

You say you're doing everything you can so you probably already see an osteo or chiropractor. If not, it's worth trying one as they can really help. I also found deep tissue massage incredibly good.

Also, to give you hope, I recently had my second child, and had nothing more than some mild twinges at the start of the second trimester. These last few horrible weeks will be over very soon.

Cupcake, yes I was induced at 38 weeks, the consultant was reluctant but I also had hyperemesis and nothing was stopping the sickness.

To be honest my husband took control of the final few weeks as all I could concentrate on was dealing with the pain. He was an absolute superstar and I think his calm collected manner was really appreciated by the healthcare professionals.

I didn't find the labour pain too bad to start with, but my pelvis was shocked and moving too much so I had to have an epidural within 60mins of my waters being broken. It was that or c section, but as I said in my previous post I just let them do whatever they wanted once I couldn't feel anything which was a mistake.

On the plus side I had a beautiful baby boy who has been amazing since day 1, I honestly found pregnancy the hardest thing I've ever done, having a baby to look after was much easier for me than pregnancy.

Chin up you're nearly there!

Booboo thank you so much for that! I also have severe sickness. i completely understand that a pregnancy with one is bad enough but both is just rotten!

I'm waiting to hear back from the ward sister today. I'm hoping to be offered sweeps if I'm favourable first rather than full on induction even though that may come if baby doesn't come by 40 +wks due to its size.

My pain this time is also all in one leg, as you describe, with no pain on opening my legs, though in my first pregnancy it was more 'classic' SPD. The Pelvic Partnership have some very specific advice on the stats about induction, and they will also give you a call back to discuss birth, so I do recommend getting in touch. They are also very sympathetic!

I asked them for an induction which they were happy to do at 39 weeks. I pointed out the other children were suffering at home and they said it was important to consider this when deciding induction.

Labour wise I was ok. Like you I coped until 6ish when I would stiffen up and could no longer move

I'm seeing consultant in a few days. A bit scared trying to think of my options and what might be suggested if anything.

Hello I really sympathise - I'm on my 2nd pregnancy with both HG (thankfully improving) and SPD (crutches and wheelchair at 6 months).

I wasn't allowed a water birth because they felt the SPD meant I wouldn't be able to get out of the pool fast enough in an emergency (I was also high risk for problems though). However I was allowed to do my entire labour (not birth) in the bath in the ensuite bathroom, filled as high as possible and this helped a lot. I also used natal hypnotherapy CDs and that helped a lot with keeping calm, pain relief. So if there's no pool, insist on a bath.

You need to make sure your partner, mw etc are very well briefed re: safe distance for legs, no stirrups etc. I ended up being stitched under a spinal anaesthetic and as I was bleeding to death at the time no one worried about the safe distance (and my dh was not allowed in the operating theatre). My legs were yanked into stirrups. It took up to 2 years to recover, and still not fully recovered before this pregnancy. The same happened to my friend who had SPD, as when the baby became distressed they put her in stirrups and pulled. 3 months pp she's still on crutches.

This time I'm getting a c-section but I got the impression it wouldn't be allowed for SPD alone - I've got a lot of other risks.

I had horrid SPD in my first preg, was actually hospitalized so I could have meds to control pain do I could sleep, they had to give me stuff that meant they wanted to minister baby. I was so exhausted.

They tried to induce me at 38wks but it didn't work and they discovered I am allergic to the drug they use to induce you...

I ended up going overdue, had long lab our but midwives were good at being careful with my legs/hips.

I have since had four more babies and the spd never got as bad. I had special treatment andphysio afterwards and exercised, swimming and core exercises to strengthen pelvis and pelvic floor and that helped so despite having big babies it never got as bad.

I did lab our in the bath/pool and that really helped actually with no 2 and 3 and had no 4in pool.

With no 1i ended up with an epidural as it was a three day laboyr, that meant no pain/lessened pain from SPD but it meant I probably moved my legs further apart than I should have done which caused more damage.. So swings and round about..