I’m 40 weeks pregnant today. Almost 2 weeks ago I developed a terrible cough, which resulted in me pulling or tearing (not sure which) my intercostal muscles. The cough and muscle pain peaked in severity about 8 days ago and I went to A&E. I’m not exaggerating when I say to move a millimetre had me screaming in agony. I ended up being admitted (to the antenatal ward) for 3 days and 2 nights so I could be given morphine. This really helped the pain, helped me sleep (I’d had 4 nights of 1-2 hours sleep) and, crucially, suppressed the cough. NB I had a x ray and it confirmed no rib was broken or cracked. Since I was discharged 5 days ago I’ve been recovering at home. Whilst the cough has gone (thank goodness) I’m still pretty immobile and it’s still agony to manoeuvre in bed / get up from the sofa / laugh / cough / god forbid sneeze!! I’m pretty nervous about labour and how I’ll cope and hoping baby stays put for another week or two. My question is - for anyone else who has had this sort of injury (pregnancy or not) how long did it take to get better?