Constant Pain....

[zippityzip]

This has probably been done to death but I am so fed up and need to rant.

I am 29 weeks with my third. I have a few issues with my hips anyway due to previous pregnancies and injury so I knew I would be sore but this is new level.

I have sciatica down both sides which is generally manageable day to day. But the baby is so low I feel like she's falling out, the pressure and lower back aches are constant. I can't sleep so I'm exhausted, and I'm at the point where basically everything hurts all of the time and it's really depressing. I feel like my pelvis is about to come apart at the front and did have some separation in my last pregnancy. There's also this horrible feeling like I'm constantly on the brink of wetting myself but going to the loo and it's just a trickle. (No UTI). I have big babies generally so am due another growth scan next month.

I have a support belt, birthing ball (although this does nothing but make me feel like I'm pushing her lower). I take paracetamol regularly which I would rather avoid but can't really deal without it. I have heat bags for my back and will feel ok in the bath but as soon as I'm out it's the same.

I'm seeing the midwife again Monday but I'm not even sure if it's worth mentioning because she will just say "deal with it until you're due". She did previously mention physio my last appointment but said that I would have had the baby by the time I was at the top of the waiting list.

I'm fucking miserable. Tired. And fed up of making sound effects every time I have to get up or down or shuffle around anywhere.

Is there anything that I could be doing that I haven't tried already? Any magic tricks that anyone has found have worked?

The realist in me is saying just get on with it woman, nothing you can do. But I'm hopeful there's gotta be something or it's going to be a fucking long miserable 11+ weeks 😭

I don't have anything particularly helpful to say but I'm sorry you're having such a shit time :( could you afford to go to a private physio/osteo/chiro? If so it's definitely worth a try! And perhaps speak to your GP to see if you can take anything else alongside the paracetamol to try and take the edge off when you're really struggling

@bm2021 Called the GP (unsympathetic ice Queen) who just said paracetamol only. Which was gutting.

Budget doesn't really stretch to private with everything I've still got to get before this baby services unfortunately. Have looked up online stretches etc but again nothing helps.

Pelvic partnership website.

I'd second the osteo/ chirp with experience of pregnancy. For me, it's the best £400 I've ever spent and means the difference between being able to walk, vs last pregnancy being unable to walk for about half my pregnancy.

That £400 is seeing my osteo every 2-3 weeks since week 8 until the end of my pregnancy.

I honestly can't recommend it enough. No interest credit card? Even a single session would help.

@physicskate Thank you will definitely look. What magic do they do?!?

They get your joints back in alignment, massage and also give you techniques, poses, stretches. Honestly, I was so depressed by this point last time thinking 'how much longer can I live without being able to move? What if I don't get better?

I still had some issues after the birth, saw the osteopath twice at 6 months postpartum and I was cured (leg would give out/ seize up at least twice a day).

Now, I still get some pain and a teller I need to see her again, but it's nowhere near unbearable pain this time, more like strong discomfort on occasion. And yes, I still hear the bones grinding sometimes, but bearable. Last time was unbearable. And it started a good 5 weeks later last time.

The osteo I see says it's easier to treat if you aren't as advanced with it, so I started seeing her super early this time, but there is always something they can do.

Honestly, it's magic. I budgeted for it this time, but I would hand on heart take out a loan, credit card, beg, borrow, steal, put off buying the rest of the stuff you need for baby. Or if you were planning on formula feeding, breastfeed for the first 6 months or so which would pay for it.

I had nhs physio last time (referred at about 17 weeks) The only thing they did was hand me crutches and a support belt. That was so disheartening. It wasn't until I saw my osteo that I knew I could gain some control back!!!

You don't have to live like this. I wish I'd been told that last time.

@physicskate I wish I knew about this more. From my previous pregnancies I was pretty much told this is what it is and you have to get on with it. Nothing much else to do.
How would crutches even help!? Surely using those just transfers the strain to elsewhere?
I'm looking at the website to see if there is someone local and hopefully get a consultation.
Another sleepless night and waddling around and everything hurts again it's just so depressing it's a joke.
Women's health really is dismissed isn't hybrid

Isn't it**

And thank you for the advice.

Not a problem. I was told last time it was just one of those things and there was nothing I could do.

The crutches did help, marginally, in that I was able to get up from sitting and could still walk a few steps at a time.

It wasn't until I saw my osteo that she told me lots can be done during the actual pregnancy.

The list on the pelvis partnership website isn't exhaustive. My osteo isn't on there. Get recommendations from pregnancy yoga groups, doulas even pregnancy masseuses. The important thing is that they are familiar with issues in pregnancy, which everyone on that list is. But not everyone experienced with the issues caused by pgp in pregnancy is on the list, ifyswim.

@zippityzip I am with you 100%!! The pain is just unbearable, and what I found the hardest was that it impacted my daily life doing basic things like playing with my kids, cooking, going to the bathroom. I had to take a deep breath just thinking to get up and do something.

I started seeing a chiropractor and it changed my life! I saw a chiro with my first pregnancy and an Osteopath with my second because I found an amazing one very close to my house. But the treatments to me feel the same and the outcome is equally life changing.

The other thing I did was buy a pregnancy pillow (well it is called cushion which I like more tbh) that lets me lie on my stomach. It is the most incredible invention, the pain disappears immediately and the relieve is unimaginable. I sleep on it, I just chill on it when I need a break, I take it to all my osteo appointments and I even do yoga on it. It is also a cosy pod for the baby to sleep in so you can even used it afterwards like dual-purpose.

It is called Anna by a company called Natal Comfort if you want to check it out:
www.natalcomfort.com

Hopefully this will work for you too, but hands-down it was a game changer for me.

i'm 26 weeks and i feel your pain - third pregnancy first time wit SPD which basically feels likes someone's hit me between the legs with a metal bar and my groins going to split in two when i walk - and then me being me i've trapped a nerve on my right side scrubbing the bathroom sooo in general agony also .

here's hoping the next few weeks go quick 😭
i find my ball is the only comfortable place to sit in going to try find some heat relief for my back so maybe that's worth a try ? as the bath eases it but is also uncomfortable because of how i'm lied

your not alone though OP x