tmi sorry, but worried, loose bowels...

[justageek]

I am now 25 weeks pregnant, with my third, and for the past 8 DAYS i have had lose bowels, always in the evening twice. No other symptoms, but it blooming hurts and causes braxton hicks for ages afterward. I am starting to get a bit worried that this might be resulting in harm to the baby in some way, or more irationally, that i will never do a solid bowel movement ever again!

Is this a bug do you think? a pregnancy thing? should i be concerned?

I intermittently had an upset stomach from about week 24 until the end of pg. I read that pg hormone, loosening of ligaments and constriction of other organs as baby grows can all affect bowel movements. Not a problem for baby, can be painful for you. Is only a problem if you become incontinent i.e. start having accidents, and then should be referred.

I was admitted to hospital at about 30 weeks with similar symptoms, though I'd been sick too - the problem is that you can get dehydrated and that causes the braxton hicks.

The trick is to drink tons of water and if you start having diarrhea take rehydration salts to prevent you losing minerals.

It is probably a bug, however in pregnancy your body is quite smart, if you eat something that is not good for you - ie it's a bit off or just not nutritionally what you need, your body kicks it straight out again (I've still got morning sickness at 35 weeks plus).

It's just possible too that you are eating too much in one go and your body is expelling it because there isn't a lot of spare room - yes you need more food but you need it in smaller quantities, more often. Also people tend to go for richer food in pregnancy (because they are not worried about gaining weight so much) and the extra fat can have a laxative effect.

Finally, and you'll love this bit. If you regularly have BH in the evening, you probably have an irritable uterus and it will be pressing on your large intestine causing gas and pressing the poo towards your bum at high speed (oh the joys of pregnancy) so quite often you can feel your bump go hard and then five minutes later you run to the loo. It's not going to harm the baby, although you may get a sore arse from frequent poos!

that sounds about right whomovedmychocolate, i noticed BH early on with this pregnancy really, and a lot of what is being expelled is gas pregnancy is just so...sexy

lots of water it is!

Yeah and it'll take at least six weeks post partum for all the water to go as well - which is a real PITA because you just feel dumpy afterwards as well as knackered.

Have you just started iron tablets? They don't always constipate - quite the opposite for some people.

Are you getting enough fluids? BH can get worse if you are dehydrated.

i'm not 21 weeks and have had the same problem for 3 weeks, this happened to me last time too. its a hormone thing.
as long has you keep your fluids up you should be fine, however one cure that works for me to make everything more solid is probiotic yogurts( about 3 a day)and a nasty macdonalds, don't know why but it does seem to work.
hardly any problems now.
isn't motherhood a strange and wonderful thing?