SPD Sofa - support and advice offered at no extra charge!

[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....

ilovesprouts, I got my support belt from the NHS physio and she gave me pelvic stability exercises to do. This has not really helped with the pain but I am slightly more mobile than I was 3 weeks ago. So I can move sideways without falling over my LOs.IMO the only thing to limit the pain is to do practically nothing.

Evenin'. I'm 28 weeks now and have had SPD/PGP since about 6 weeks (compared to 5/6 months with my first).

Am thoroughly hacked off with hobbling round on crutches - keep dropping things and forgetting which leg goes first! I've borrowed a wheelchair from the Red Cross but am finding it really heavy so couldn't manage to wheel myself round the shops on saturday. After one Little Britain joke too many I lost it and started to cry (in the wool dept of John Lewis). Perhaps exacerbated by seeing healthy glam pg mothers walking around whilst I look like a blob in a wheelchair.

I'm worried about being able to actually cope with labour as the SPD pain is pretty bad and I still have 12 weeks to go. I'm expecting it to get worse rather than better. Does anyone have any tips or experience of labour? How did anyone actually manage labour for hours and hours?

Am hoping that my karma will come round and bless me with a son (I know that it's a boy) who sleeps 12 hours a night to make up for my not having slept properly in months!??

mwlsensend hugs and sympathies about the wheelchair but do stick it out- it'll make life easier....I spent two months with one but there are women who had them for longer. The jokes and glam mummies do suck xxx I had the delight of experiencing contractions for 12 hours before they would give me an epidural. I was unprpeared as my last daughter I was given an epi at the start. My consultant wrote me up for one in advance but there was no room in the delivery ward for me. I couldn't have managed labour without it. It's probably not what you want to hear but my personal experience make me a fan of drugs. Also be totally anal about telling anyone you see that you have SPD and the limitations that puts on you. I had four copies of a list on here in my ntes and it worked. Everyone was very careful with me.

Is there space on the SPD sofa for a little pretty big one?!

Have SPD again!

Had it when pg with DD1, and was off work from 22 weeks ish. It was awful, crutches, belt and lots of pain. Am now pg with DC2, 28 weeks and its been gradually worsening over the last month or so. I am off work today and wondering if that is it until EDD. Have my trusty support belt which have been wearing for the past couple of weeks and waiting for physio appoinment on 30th March. No Drs appointments available at my surgery this week so can't get into see anyone.

Need some words of wisdom and good cheer ladies...feeling a bit teary.

Hi there Tobermory, hope you're feeling a bit better.I've only got time to say that you really do need to be off work so don't worry about it. My dc are quarreling so I've got to sort them out.

good morning DOG, just to say I find the belt that I got from the physio really good but I don't wear it all the time. I put it on if I've got to stand in the kitchen for a while and then rriiipppp it off loudly when i want to sit down. I found seeing the physio useful and she was really sympathetic and is the only health care professional who has taken my SPD seriously. Also she sorted me out after I had dc2 so I hope she will see me quickly after dc3. I'm seeing her again tomorrow and I was going to ask her about the 'dragging in the bits' pain.

Looloo, Thanks for the hello yesterday. I'd be interested to find out what your physio says about 'dragging' pain, I feel that quite a lot but have to wait till the end of the month to see a physio.
DOG - i second the belt. I wear mine a lot and think it does give me some support.

Hello ladies - another one here! Am SO lucky because I'm 35 weeks today with DC2 and the severe pain only started 2 weeks ago (altho already seems like longer). Am also lucky as the physio today was brill and immediately gave me crutches and a belt - a significant improvement on the quazi-modo style lurch I've been walking with for the last weeks.

I don't know how you poor things cope with it for months - you have ALL my sympathy and amazement. It's just one of those things you don't even know/think about until it happens to you. I was lusting after a motorised wheelchair yesterday - and my best friend just couldn't understand it.

Yesterday (pre-crutches) I was actually tutted at (accompanied with a headshake!) by some cow who was holding a door open for me while I struggled up two steps with my toddler in his pushchair - I was trying to pull him up backwards while holding on to a wall rail on my bad side. I was taking too long - and she probably thought I was just making a 'fuss over nothing' ... Every time I've been out I end up in tears with the pain - and people like that just add insult to injury. As for the glam mums ... oh God just make them all go away.

Physio tells me I MUST use crutches at all times - which is fine - except it means my poor little boy is stuck at home with grumpy Mummy. It's the lifting him in and out of the cot and bath which are the real killers.

Anyway -- too much already from me - just thought I'd say hello.

I saw the physio this morning and she tried to realign my hips. i feel a bit more mobile but I expect they'll come unaligned soon. She said to avoid the 'dragging' to pull in my pelvic floor before I stood up and gave me more pelvic floor exercises to do on the gym ball with a big rubber band. I would be feeling positive except that she is going away for 3 weeks and my next appt isn't until 26 April. The physio also said that doing literally nothing may be the only solution so I'm doing as little as possible and driving for the school run (shame as it's 3/4 mile along a nice country lane and i really like the walk).Hope you're all at least OK on the SPD sofa.

Hololilo I have reported your message as you seem to be using the pregnancy threads to advertise your product

Hi Ladies

Just a quick update ....

I delivered my LO on the 1st March - 3 weeks early - after suffering with terrible SPD since around 30 weeks

The labour went well considering my lack of mobility because of the SPD and I managed with gas and air and diamorphine, although I did require an episiotomy and ventouse as the little man decided to rotate himself just as I wanted to push !

I had been told that an elective cesearean was my best option and that a vaginal birth would be near impossible. My experience shows that with good support - my DH held my leg in the air for over an hour to avoid stirrups - and understanding midwives - my internal exams where governed by how I could place my legs, a section can be avoided.

To all those who are suffering and feeling very down - hang on in there. Nearly three weeks after the birth I can walk virtually anywhere and although I am still achey sometimes I have no need to take any pain relief.

My darling son is worth all the days sat crying on the sofa wondering if the pain would ever go away and I'm sure all of you who are suffering now will feel the same once your little ones arrive.

My advice is to rest,rest and more rest it will be worth it xx

Hello All.

My daughter was born 8 weeks ago via c-section.
I had severe SPD and spent the last 10 weeks in a wheelchair....

TODAY I WENT SHOPPING FOR THE DAY.
OUT FOR BREAKFAST AND LUNCH...
PUSHED THE PUSHCHAIR AND AM FINE.

SPD.. is miserable and lonely and I have just read through and my heart goes out to you all.

Top advise for you all is to do as litle as you can get as much help as you can and buy big support pants... MOTHERCARE sell the £15 for two pairs.. but very very good.

I had a miserable pregnancy felt so low and know how you feel looking at the yummy mummys to be looking all lovely whilst I was like a fat blob in a wheelchair.

Things are so much better now theres light at the end of the tunnel...

Keep brave. xx

Well done underactive and feta, it's lovely to hear your lovely news. Feta, I've been thinking of getting the mothercare pants but can't decide which size to buy. Are they really difficult to get on?

Not at all LooLoo and they do make a difference!

Thanks puree I'll order some then. I'm really fed up as i thought I was improving a bit after my last visit to the physio and then things have just got worse again. I have just got a new long handled dustpan and brush to go with my collection of SPD purchases (satin PJs last week ,mothercare pants next week).Hope everyone on the SPD sofa is as comfy as they can be.

Hello everyone
I'm 30 weeks with number 3, and really struggling. I can't walk more than a couple of hundred metres, and have to sit on one of the kids trip-trap chairs to cook!

But but but I love swimming, and can't recommend it highly enough! As long as your physios give you the go ahead, I'd really suggest you give it a go. I do front crawl, but a friend does breast strokes arms with kicking legs. Feeling like you have some mobility is wonderful, as is lying on your front and having the weight off your pelvis.

When I've done a few lengths, I wait at the end of the pool to catch my breath and do my pelvic exercises, which the physio explained would be more effective if not against gravity (so better in water than out). It cheers me up so much to have used some energy and got out of the house.

Our local authority do free swims for pregnant women, but if yours doesn't, Schweppes are doing a promotion where you can exchange empty promotional bottles for a free swim.

Hope that helps someone.

Hello

The pants are dead easy to get on...

Also I used to wear a normal pair of pants and then these over the top.. They are expensive and despite having 4 pairs I sometimes just couldn't keep up with the washing due to the SPD.

I found swimming was good until I couldn't get myself dressed in the pokey changing rooms..

I went to Physio or what we hope will be the last time today... however she advised I my always have to be careful with lifting for my back..

Love to all

hi my dd is 35 wks and has severe spd and when to the hospital for physio etc and they gave a her a spd band ,but want it back

Hi, my baby is 4.5 months now, and I am still getting pain (enough to make me cry out if I have to roll over or get up off the ground, and if I go shopping with the kids in the pram the next day I am pretty useless), is this normal? The SPD was pretty severe in pregnancy, I was pretty much immobile by the end.

Hi I've not posted up in a long time but I like to pop in and check on people's progress, great to hear that fetaqueen is becoming more mobile (awesome news btw), as are others.

I am only 4 weeks after an emer section and I have to say that I have dumped the crutches but like a lot of others and you also butterpie I am still in a fair amount of pain.

I can't walk very far without it being too sore, and lifting the baby etc is adding to the discomfort levels. I am about to see womens health physio but the only thing that helped me during my pg was a chiropractor but it seems that I still have misalignment in my hips. I am hoping the physio can assist me with that before I embark on some more costly but much worth it chiropractor treatment. The belts etc did not help me and still to this moment I can't lie on my side - eneve with pillows as it feels like my pubic bnones are being squashed together and the pressure pain is too sore.

Some people have mentioned the exercises have helped them, can anyone describe what these might be? I was given the basic pelvic tilts and pelvic floors and to sit on a gym ball but TBH I don't think they are making that much of a difference, esp since I was told it might take 6 months for hormone levels to decrease? love to everyone as SPD is not very fun.

helpet shocking that no one knows about this condition and that lots of us have to endure the stares from others who are clueless xx

Butterpie I still had spd after dc2 and was referred to physio when she was 4 months. This really sorted me out. She gently shoved my hips back and gave me some exercises to pull them back very gently and got me lying on my back doing deep pelvic floor exercises.

indigo, I'm not very good at describing exercises but here goes!

The latest ones (I'm 25 weeks pg):

sit on gym ball and put big elastic band (about 4 foot long) under right foot. Pull straight up with right hand and then let down really slowly all the time bouncing really slowly. Then hold band in left hand and pull diagonally upwards and let go really slowly. Then swap sides. 3 of each.(I'm off to do these right now)

before that (about 4 weeks ago);

just sit bouncin g on the ball but stick out one arm to off balance you and move it very slowly up and down.

hi 34 weeks here and still in agony

Am going to the physio though as it's like every little helps isn't it? Last time she told me there was little point continuing as my hips were so soft that everytime she moved them to the correct position they just moved back.

Most of my pain is down my RHS coming from the right SI joint but also have pain in the left and the front.

Have 3 other children, driving is a nightmare but preferable to walking.

Have an appt with a consultant to discuss induction at 40 weeks, have been overdue with my last two and cannot face it again. Have had 3 natural births the last 2 were homebirths and were fast so am hoping it's a case of popping a cork so to speak.