Is this normal...?

[legallyblond]

I am newly (5 1/2 weeks) pg for the first time and just have no idea what to expect or if the things I am feeling are normal.

I have a drs appointment on Wednesday morning, so I can ask about everything then, but I just wondered if I could canvas some opinions in the meantime.... largely because afer randomly googling my symptoms I have convinced myself I have an ectopic pregnancy..

So far, I have huge, achy boobs and feel so tired its like I've been drugged (all normal I think), but I also have terrible lower back pain and a pretty much consant cramping type feeling to the right of centre in my very lower stomach. The stomach pain is not exactly painful, its more like a kind of tightness, the feeling is as if someone was gently-sih pulling your hair in one spot.

I have no idea if thiese things are normal. Like I said, when I googled to see if they were, the internet just seemed to scream problems at me

I know no-one can really say, but I just wondered if I should be doing anything/seeing someone in advance of Wednesday morning (my drs appointment is only 36 hours away after all... surley I am just being paranoid?)

Sorry for the long post - its just all a bit scary!

Obviously I'm not an expert but I had cramps around that time. They were like mild period cramps and were more prevalent in the evening.

I also had pain in my right side. My midwife said that this was the uterus stretching and that it usually happened at one side and more often it was the right side.

No advice really - just wanted to let you know that mild pains can be normal.

Oh, and congratulations.

I had a LOT of cramps in my fifth week. Went from occasional discomfort to pains lasting several hours and disturbing my sleep. My doctor said it was 'implantation' cramps and would subside within a couple of days -which they then did, totally. Only to be replaced with nausea, but that's less scary! The doctor did say if I cramps had acute pain in my side combined with shoulder pain (random I thought) there was a risk of ectopic pregnancy -but your symptoms sound just like mine were.

Vile achey boobs and total tiredness are completely normal too I'm afraid!!

And yes, congrats on your lovely news!!

Hi Legally, Congrats I too felt like this and kept thinking my period was late but I felt awful, really tired and yucky, shivery and very very crampy. My boobs were also very very tender, and swollen. I had more pain at what I think is my right ovary and it was like a stitch, or pulled muscle feeling. When I did my test I was pregnant
I am sure everything is fine, I just wanted you to know that someone else felt like you do now.

Thanks ladies... this is reassuring. I will ask the dr on Wednesday but you're right, so far no random "tip of shoulder" pain which shows an ectopic pg (as you can see, I have been googling in a terrified state!) and the pains are more like mild pms cramps than anything acute - its more discomfort than pain, you know?

I am just being a nervous frist-timer I think (I hope!!)!

I had awful cramps with dd right the way through, never had any signs of anything being wrong though so i think it was just my uterus objecting to being stretched. Not posting that to panic you, just to warn you as i wished that i had someone to tell me it was normal and ok when it was happening to me

I was so surprised that you can feel so crap that early on. I had the right of centre pain in one pg and left of centre in the other and it felt not so much like a cramp or a pain but more like something pulling or a fullness, like if a fist was inside you and somebody opened it and stretched everything. Crippling tiredness, sore boobs and just a general feeling of rubbishness.

I had early scans with 2 pregnancies and the pain always occured on the side I'd ovulated on and the EPU said it was probably the corpus luteum coupled with implantation.

Back ache too. Oh God it was just miserable. It got better quickly though!

Stop googling.

Cramps are pretty common in early pregnancy, they are just burrowing in, getting comfy and your uterus is preparing to streeeeetch.

The tiredness/drugged feeling is pretty common as well, I still occasionally feel like I am looking through a fog at 33 weeks.

(birdofthenorth the shoulder pain your Dr talked about is due to transferred pain common in ectopic pregnancy, along with the acute pain in one side of abdomen/lower back).

Sore boobs/tiredness - get used to that! A normal part of pregnancy that if you manage to avoid you are very lucky! I At the moment, in particular, your hormones are on overdrive, which is why you will feel so tired. It is normally worse in the first few weeks.

tummy cramps - as mentioned by other posters, this is normal. The egg is moving down and imbedding itself into the womb and this will cause some aching, and might well do so on one side, as a consequence of the egg travelling down from the ovary. it is also possible to get some mild spotting early on due to the egg dislodging old blood as it settles into the womb. However, if the pain gets worse, or if you do have spotting, do get it checked to make sure that is what it is (most of the time it is but worth checking just to be sure).

There is a LOT going on in there right now and you may well feel all sorts of strange things, all of which are perfectly normal. Or you might find it all settles and you start feeling fine. That is normal too.

Congratulations!

Thank you all! No more googling!

x x

That explains it Pavlov, I did wonder where shoulders were involved in reproductive health!!

I was totally convinced the cramping and pain on the right in my first pregnancy was a sign of an ectopic pregnancy... I think my uterus just REALLY did not like to stretch but all was completely fine and the result is the toddler bouncing on the sofa next to me!
Congratulations and welcome to worrying which seems part of every pregnancy...

step away from google!!!! You'll have diagnosed yourself with all sorts of things if you carry on!

Google is the work of the devil.

I have balanitis you know.

I think you have come to the right place! I am also a newbie and am at 18 weeks. I had terrible cramps also very early on- 5 weeks would have been about right. So much so that by the time we got to the first scan i was convinced the baby had died... it was a complete shock to see a little bouncy frog!

As for the exhaustion, I did not have really bad morning sickness, but I was absolutely shattered. Completely utterly exhausted. Like I was walking through cement.

I have been lurking on MN for a week or so, and find it so comforting, because people tell you how it really is. The two baby books i bought both said cramps in early pregnancy was a problem..... reading this thread, it seems normal.

and congratulations. Terrifying, isn;t it!

[ off to google balanitis ]

Don't do google - leprosy and croup will be the result.

or worse, worse even than balanitis extrema difficilissima.

I had cramping for the first 10 weeks of pg with ds, now just pg again and the cramps feel as if the mother of all periods is about to descend on me... part of the joys of it all huh.

Congratulations

Thanks everyone.

Feeling fairly reassured as I went to my GP this morning and told him about the pains on the right side of my lower abdomen...and told him about my ectopic pg fears.. He said it is probably just that the right side is supporting the pg more and that, unless it gets worse or I start bleeding, not to worry.

Apparently all my symptoms are normal (as you have all said!)

Just the next 7-8 weeks to wait now... just hoping nothing goes wrong...

x x

Oh dear...

I can tell I am going to be a nervous one...

As all predicted, the abdomen pains on one side have now stopped, almost certainly because the bean was bedding in and has now "bedded" I guess...

Even though I was so worried about the cramps and convinced myself of an ectopic pg, now that they have ceased, I am also worried and my loopy (hormonal?) mind is thinking: what if its miscarried in there?

Please, no reassurances needed, I KNOW I am being silly! I just wanted to share the "hilarity" of a first-time pregnancy!

There's always something new and exciting to worry about.. cramping/no cramping, severe symptoms/no symptoms, no weight gain/too much weight gain, not feeling movement/too much movement. The fun never ends

Legallyblond I am right there with you in the nervouse stakes! I am only just 4 weeks with my first and have had tummy cramps (I did a pregnancy test on Sunday and I wasnt due on until today and I did another test last night to make sure I was still pregnant!). I have my first GP appointment on Tuesday but it seems like a long wqit until 12 week scan!