Intense rib pain - feel like I've broken a few.

[Picante]

Over the past few days pain has got increasingly worse. When I sneeze or cough it feels like I've fractured a couple of ribs. Even breathing is painful.

I'm coming up 30 weeks. Is this normal? Should I see gp?

Go and see your GP, it's probably the baby pushing on your ribs, but best to get it checked out.

Is the pain on your right or left side?

I had this with my first pregnancy - the pain was hideous and was just my ribs moving to make way for the baby.

Apparently it was worse for me as i'm small so baby didn't have that much space.

Definitely get it checked out though.

I did find that cranial osteopathy helped a bit.

On my right hand side. I'm pretty tall so I would have thought there would be enough space.

Ooooowwww.

It's most likely that it is the baby (I had terrible right hand side rib pain and I'm tall), but there is also a liver complaint in pg (obstetric cholestasis) which one of the indicators is rib pain on the right.

Don't google it as it's probably most likely it's not that, but do mention it to the GP.

I have this as well and my midwife told me that it was the relaxin hormone making my ribs expand to make room for the baby.

Well I saw the gp and he was as useless as ever just telling me to take painkillers.

But I also saw my chiropractor and he said it was rib strain, probably brought on by coughing and sneezing. Have to take it easy (oh no, no housework!).

I had the same thing at about the same time as you. My baby was lying on my right side mostly, but my left ribs were soooo painful and it did feel like they were bruised or cracked. I pegged it down to my ribs parting to make way for the baby, but the pains were gone by the time I saw my gp. It lasted about a week for me, and I havent had any pains since, but thats probably partly because LO is starting to engage (yay!)

Hope you get a chance to put your feet up a bit and that the pain abates for you soon, too.

Did the GP take your blood pressure and check your urine for protein?

Rib pain can be a sign of pre eclampsia.

After having DD2 and she is now almost 5yrs old my rib muscles go into spasm sometimes if i bend down in a certain way and the first few times i was convinced that i was having a heart attack.
But it passes after a couple of minutes.
My intercostal muscles (it think they are called) have always given me gip, even as a kid as when i got anxious they would seize up and i could hardly breathe.
Got better with time though.

could be what is called 'rib-flare', where your ribs are being pushed out by the baby, to make room for your internal organs that are being displaced by the baby.

well, that is what I was told when I suffered with it, really badly when pregnant with DD1. and it was only on the one side too, due to how she was lying and where her feet pushed!