Shooting pains at 21 weeks

[July2015]

I've just turned 21 weeks pregnant, and I've been getting sharp shooting pains in my stomach for a few days.

They started off lower down, so incase it was a uti, I got tested for that but all was fine. They are now usually higher up, near my belly button. It's like a sharp, shooting pain going across. It happens every few hours for a few seconds at a time. Sometimes it'll be lower down and the pain will shoot downwards and go as far as my vagina.

Is this something I should be concerned about, or is it maybe just growing pains?

It sounds like it could be round ligament pain. My dd is 14 weeks and has been saying she has quite bad pain in the middle of her stomach - sometimes stabby, sometimes crampy. if you look up round ligament pain, see if it sounds like what you are experiencing. If you have no spotting, discharge, fever, chills etc, it could well be this. It's apparently very common in the second trimester and is due to the ligaments softening and stretching and sometimes going into spasm. It can last from a few mins to a few days and come and go. And exercise and even walking, changing positions etc, can bring it on. DD has just taken paracetemol and says that she things hers was bad today as she was sat on a bar stool for ages watching rugby. When she stood up and moved around a bit it eased off.

I will look up round ligament pain now. Thanks very very much for your help :)

Speak to your midwife.

Sounds very similar to pains I had in the 2nd trimester. They were really painful and worrying. Turned out to be nothing - just stretching ligaments and muscles as the bump grew ever larger.

But you really should speak to a professional, to be sure.

I will speak to my midwife when she is in again on Thursday. Thank you for the bit of reassurance though :)