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[pumpkinpureeandghostlypearls]

I am suffering SPD (for the second time) and just need to vent without driving everyone else on my pregnancy thread mental. Not that they aren't supportive but I still have 20 weeks to go and I don't want to ruin their pregnancies by talking about mine!

Please come and join me so I don't feel so alone, and feel free to share tips if you have any....

Good luck Underactive!

Appu, imo you need to be pushy and insist on a referral to the physio. The worst (best?) that can happen is that the physio assesses you and says you don't have spd. I don't think the GP and MW are always able to diagnose it. When I had dc1 my GP had never heard of it.

Thanx Ponymum and LooLOO. Have got appointment with MW next week so I guess I will start reading more about SPD so I know what I am talking about. And yes I too hope its not SPD but reading all the symptoms I feel it might not be as serious as other members here but that is what its got to be.

I'm new to mumsnet and so glad I can see how others have coped. I'm 31 weeks and was diagnosed with SPD at 24 weeks. Thankfully my midwife and GP have been brilliant, as has the physio.
This is my first pregnancy and I was so worried when the pelvic pain first started - the pain was just awful, but I was given crutches which have been a big help.

I just wondered if anyone else is feeling low because of the pain and the frustration? I've been signed off since end of Jan, am pretty much housebound, can't drive more than a mile and all my friends and husband work during the day. My lovely family have been really aupportive but live in another country and I've still got 9 weeks to go.
I always imagined that after nearly 18 months of trying for a baby, I'd be one of those idyllic glowing mums to be, painting the nursery and enjoying every minute of the pregnancy.
Sorry to moan, I know I'm lucky that I can take it easy - I don't have other children to run around after and I have got the most loveliest husband, and with friends who can't have children, I should feel lucky, and I do, but I just feel so low sometimes too, and guilty with it for not being delighted.
I have spoken to my excellent midwife about it as these low feelings have been here since the start of the pregnancy and I'm going to the GP next week, but I just wanted to see if anyone else out there is feeling in any way similar?

Sorry, I'll stop whinging now

hi Maybaby - I am also 31 weeks pregnant, you should come over and join us on the Due in May Thread we are a nice bunch honest.

This is my 4th baby and have had SPD 4 times now and it doesn't get any better. I can totally relate to the feelings of isolation and frustration. I have a 5,4 and 1yo and just doing the school and nursery runs is agony. I haven't even bothered with physio this time as last time I was told that everytime she corrected my pelvis it was so soft it popped straight back and delivery was the only cure I should also be on crutched but have refused them as they aren't really practical when you have a toddler to carry. I'm on cocodamol for the pain now but I hate taking them and only do so when it gets really bad.

9 weeks and it will all be over, I am lucky the pain goes practically as soon as the baby is out.

Sending you all sympathies, particulrly Maybaby as it's your first. i had SPD with both my DDs so know how you feel about being isolated and frustrated. Everyone here is loveloy and supportive and full of helpful advice so don't feel that you are alone. Sounds like you have a twin in Sweetkitty too

FWIW it's totally worth it. And you're on the downhill slope now. Counting with you all.

Poor you Maybaby, you've just got to sit it out. When I had dc1 I watched all of Peak Practice on ITV3, that's how low I got! I think running around after the other children takes my mind off it a bit. I've got a support belt this time which I didn't have before and it really helps as I put it on for half an hour and do some cooking or something. Can't sit down in it though so it's on and off all day. May is a lovely time of year for a baby to arrive, dc2 was a may babe and is lucky to have lovely weather for her birthday every year so far (she's 3). look forward to it!

Thanks so much everyone for your lovely messages, I'm very new to mumsnet but what a lovely bunch you all are....thank you.

I do have one of those support belts but hadn't thought of wearing it for cooking, so thanks for that tip, I'll give it a go.

Hi all and welcome maybaby. I totally relate to the feelings of frustration. For my first pg I too had images of myself as one of those active pregnant woman - working up to the last minute, keeping really fit, doing lots of cooking for the freezer etc. It was a horrible shock when the reality was being stuck at home, basically confined to one room staring at the walls, weeping when I dropped something and couldn't pick it up, etc. It is a horrible thing that people just don't understand unless they have been through it - but you have us for support now!

This is my second pg and this time around seems to be going better, but only because I had to completely restrict my activity right from the start in order to delay and reduce the onset of the really bad pain. So a much longer time staring at the walls, but I feel a bit more positive as it was not a shock this time, and I know I will regain my fitness after the birth.

It it helps, I complained to my midwife that all the other pregnant woman seem to be running around and totally active, and I feel like such a failure. She said - Don't be fooled. The active ones are visible so we all think we are supposed to be like that, but she said most of the woman under her care are quite the opposite, you just don't hear about it!

Support belts did nothing for me except annoy me

Myabe it because most of my pain is in my bum, well my right sacro-iliac joint to be precise! Apparently when I am pregnant my right hip joint like to go for a walk and rides up higher than the left resulting in an unstable pelvis and a whole lot of pain, of course if one joint goes it knocks the other two off so I also get a bit of SPD pain at the front as well.

I'm 33 weeks now am toying with the idea of asking for induction at 40 weeks. I know this seems mad as I have has 3 natural births but I have gone overdue with the last two (hell on earth) and I have 3 other DC to look after. Plus as an aside the last labour was only an hour and a half and I am terrified of going into labour with DP at work and giving birth on my living room floor. The thought of knowing the exact date and planning childcare is very appealing as is knowing this hell will end on a certain date.

I used to slip one of those memory phone pillows between my knees and groin when on the sofa and in bed, it had a sort of dip in it my legs fitted into, a life saver.

Had 2 DS's and the SPD was not an issue during labour.

Hello, just thought I'd drop in. P&P, congrats!

I'm now officially an ex-SPD sufferer (DD is now nearly four weeks and I was induced at 39 weeks). Saw the physio and she says that ther remaining aches and pains I have are to do with pregnancy, and that the SPD has resolved (and that my nasty labour did me no harm!). She's given me solme pelvic tilts to do, and will see me in a couple of weeks to hopefully discharge me and say I can go back to my usual pilates and yoga.

So I'm hoping this will give hope to some of you currently suffering. I'm now completely able to walk (uphill as well!), can push the pram and use my baby carrier with no problems at all. There is light at the end of the long and horrible SPD tunnel, and I was really worried I wouldn't be able to say that!

Take care all.

watercress Thank you! We need to hear this!

It was such a lovely day yesterday and DH really wanted to get out for a little walk (and so did I!). So we parked the car and I cranked on my super support belt and hobbled along on my crutches for about 5 mins, then turned back and drove the car to meet them at the other end of the track. Cue absolute agony last night, like someone had stabbed me in the pubis bone on one side, twisted the knife, and left it there.

DH was really shocked and I think it only dawned on him then how little movement I can manage each day. He is now worried about a business trip he is making next week. DD will be at nursery or CM during the days, but I still have to get her up, get her there, do the bath and bed thing, etc. It is really hard. Three more wretched months to go.

Watercress- yippee and congratulations. I am still waiting for physio referral post-birth but can't get as frustrated by it as I did pre-birth.

All I can say is hold on ladies- it gets easier every day once your lovely babies arrive. Stay strong (and stay drugged )

Hi ladies - I am 28 weeks & was diagnosed with SPD last week, although have been in a lot of pain for weeks now so suspected it. Saw the physio last week, given some exercises, a belt which seems to make it work & she says I will prbably need crutches before the baby is born. Just wondering, do crutches help? I have a 4yr old so need to walk her to school, dp has started doing the morning run but I have to pick her up. Some days I feel better for walking & then suffer more later on, other days like today I'm walking like a 90 yr old all day. Wonder if it's worth asking for crutches early rather than later even if it's just to use on the bad days.

roundabout Hi! I'm 26 weeks so we are just a couple of weeks apart. My view would be yes, use the crutches sooner rather than later. Sometimes you think, oh this feels fine, I don't need them. But then often you can suffer later. They do help because you are taking the weight off the joints.

Thanks Ponymum, I have an appointment on the 17th so will ask for some then. I've just been nosying on the due in the June thread & seen you then, am off to join that thread too.

P&P, do you have to wait for a physio referral post-birth? Where I am, the physio is left open so after you have the baby you can just phone and make an appointment if you want to. If not, the physio calls you at about the four week mark to see whether you are OK. Seems quite a good system to me.

Very proud of myself today as I trekked into London to my work with pushchair. Did loads of walking, which was unthinkable just four weeks ago. I'm tired now, but that's entirely to do with having a tiny baby, and have no pain at all. So stay strong everyone, it can and will go once your LOs arrive, you just have to find ways of coping until then (rope in all the friends and family you can to help out, take painkillers, wear support belts, do exercises, rest when you can...).

my dd is 32+3 and is in agony midwife says she has spd and is waiting to see a physio asap as she cant bear it anymore

I am 31 weeks and the spd is so depressing, I have crutches and tubigrip sort of support belt, but with a toddler too it is so bad can'r take her anywhere myself and have to rely on lifts to go anywhere as we don't have a car, even though I knwo it will end it is about 9 weeks away I just wish I could sleep for the 9 weeks untill it is over but i have 2 kids to look after and we jsut moved house, my family is pressuring us about decorating it but Can't face it just cooking for the kids bathing toddler and laundry is hard enough with this bloody spd and anaemia just to top it off, no one I have met in real life has had it either. I'm happiest when lying in a heap with my moon cushion between my legs. I'm in depair tonight as have to look after my cousins 5 kids at weekend for a whole day, dh will be there and my kids but it makes me want to cry the thought of a whole day in a different house, uncomfortable.

Jennylee you seriously need to rest. i'm 23(ish) weeks and am trying to do as little as possible. I bath my ds and dd once a week ( it's winter after all) and lie on the sofa as soon as they're in bed. looking after other peoples kids as well would be too much. I know that your cousin may really need you to do this for her, but couldn't they come to you? Then you can lie on the sofa and direct.Funnily enough I've never met anyone in real life who's had spd either, but this time (i've had it twice before) more people have heard of it.

ilovesprouts you need to get your dd to rest as much as possible.

Watercress thanks for your great news, it really cheers me up to hear from you new mums.

thanks loolou, I know its a bit much, but its really better at their house it will be from 7.30 untill 8.40 when she arrives back, I can't bear them at my house as they eat all my food and snacks like locusts and nick my sons toys so we get sstressed about that at least at their own place they can rampage more and eat all their mums food if they want lol. My dh will be therea nd get me through it, its only one day until her mum comes from another country to babysit and childcare while cosuin does nursing course involving weekend and evening shifts and over summer too. as she has 5 she does nto get the having 2 and being pregnant as an excuse nto to do it for her. I am okay about ti today but last night was in tears. is good to hear from people who know how it feels.

Jennylee - Good luck for sunday. I don't drive either (because of an unrelated medical problem) & it is so frustrating relying on lifts etc. I just want my indepedence back. Glad you are feeling morepositive today, it's funny how your perspective can change isn't it, yesterday I had a painful day & felt very low on the verge of tears all the time, today it's the same pain wise but psychologically can cope & am feeling very bright - probably won't last though!

hi just an update on my dd shes fallen twice today she rang mw and they told her to take painkillers and have a nce bath but still in agony what else can she do shes been like this for a few weeks now

jennylee where did you get your support belt/tubigrip from ?

ilovesprouts- I fell twice during my pregnancy, and had to limit my activities MASSIVELY. She can take baths if she has help getting in and out and keeps her legs together at all times. I'd say that physio may be of little help. See GP to get stronger painkillers (FWIW they told me I could take paracetamol and codeine over-the-counter no more than three times a day for 48 hours and after that I'd have to see GP again.) I got my Serola support belt from physio supplies they also do a pregnancy support belt. Call them and see what they recommend. I got crutches from them too to help stabilise me whilst walking. This has the added benefit of making you go slower so you are less likely to fall! HTH

Reporting in: first post-birth physio yesterday, a mere three weeks after the mw asked for a referral from my hospitakl bed! It went well- I'm allowed to drive again. She was very impressed with my support belt (best on the market no less ilovesprouts!) and said I'll need to wear it for at least another three weeks. Gave me exercses to do that, had I not had SPD would have been laughingly simple but were in fact bloody hard work. Not bad, all things considered.

You can do it ladies. Before yo know it, you'll holding your LO xxx