18 weeks cramping, stomach pain and hard uterus

[dippydippy]

Looking for some reassurance .....

Midwives won't see me unless;
A)bleeding
b)I can't manage the pain

"Because there's nothing we can do at your gestation"

Started yesterday, painful cramping, my lower stomach hurts and is painful to even touch, I can actually put one hand and "hold" my uterus it's so swollen and solid

No bowel issues, eating & drinking normally

Positive thoughts please

It can be stretching pain from your uterus growing. I'm 22 weeks and still get these occasionally.

Can't you see your midwife who could have a quick listen to the heartbeat to reassure you? xx

I've never experienced anything like it before and this isn't my first pregnancy,

Midwives won't see me because I was potentially in contact with someone who was Covid positive in the last week even though I've had a negative pcr

It sounds like stretching pains. I would agree if there’s no bleeding and the pain is manageable then it’s probably nothing to worry about. But I’m not a medical professional. No harm seeking a second opinion if you’re worried. If you’re double jabbed it shouldn’t matter that you’ve been in contact with someone who has had tested positive for Covid, that’s not a requirement.

Sorry OP this sounds horrible. Try not to worry. I had a miscarriage at 20 weeks and as well as abdominal pain (moderate for about 24 hours, needed paracetamol, bad for about 5 hours and excruciating for about 2 hours) I had bad pelvic pressure for a couple of days before. Felt constipated but knew I wasn't. If you have that too I'd head to A&E or at least ring 111 and tell them that too.
Currently 23 weeks with confirmed COVID so fully understand how stressful it is not being able to easily and quickly access treatment if you need it. It's not easy for anyone at the moment.
Try not to worry as there's little you can do. But if it doesn't feel right keep pestering them until they see you.

I managed to persuade them to see me and thankfully heartbeat was heard nice and clear, they think it's my uterus stretching (although it not convinced!) They've done urine and swab tests just to see if it's an infection but fingers crossed it's not.

@lillg I am so sorry to read that, did you have bleeding too ? It's my worst nightmare going through that again, especially so much later on. I'm hoping that as I heard heartbeat she's okay in there. Sorry to see you have Covid too, it's a horrible time to be pregnant

@dippydippy

I managed to persuade them to see me and thankfully heartbeat was heard nice and clear, they think it's my uterus stretching (although it not convinced!) They've done urine and swab tests just to see if it's an infection but fingers crossed it's not.

@lillg I am so sorry to read that, did you have bleeding too ? It's my worst nightmare going through that again, especially so much later on. I'm hoping that as I heard heartbeat she's okay in there. Sorry to see you have Covid too, it's a horrible time to be pregnant

That's really good news. Glad everything is ok. I don't want to worry you but I had no bleeding until 10 minutes before baby was born and they got a heartbeat 30 minutes before. However, it took ages to find a heartbeat as baby wasn't where she should have been (as I was in the latest stages of labour it turns out), so they were still worried. Sounds like you've been checked out properly, baby is where she should be and doing well and they're doing follow up test so make sure you're ok. I've had recurrent UTIs (It sounds like I'm making it up with the amount of issues I have, but I'm not I promise!) and get belly ache with that, so glad they're checking that for you too. UTI is easily sorted with antibiotics so no need to worry if it is.