Tuesday, February 8, 2011

A Pain in the Butt

Well, to be more specific, it's probably more like sciatica, pelvic girdle pain, or round ligament pain - although I don't know why round ligament pain would hurt my backside. Anyway, it's been getting worse and worse over the last few days. Every step hurts. Putting my pants and socks on is torture. Standing up and sitting down make me cringe.

Sunday afternoon and evening it really intensified, and then yesterday I was just miserable at work. I called the OB's office, and they had me come in. I suggested that it felt like sciatica or pelvic girdle pain, but the nurse practitioner thought it could be round ligament pain. She explained that at this point in my pregnancy, my uterus is experiencing a lot of growing and stretching. However, from what I've read round ligament pain is something that is usually felt in the abdominal area. In any case, she was very concerned about the amount of pain I was in, and she advised me to take some time off of work to rest and see if it goes away.

So, I'm on a leave of absence until I see the doctor again on the 21st. If the pain has subsided, then I will return to work. If it hasn't, I won't. Since I've been out of the classroom, my new responsibilities have me all over campus and working with every grade level. That's just not doable in this kind of pain. Sigh...

I was able to schedule a last-minute prenatal massage this afternoon. The massage therapist worked my sore side as much as I could let her. It really hurt! I'll go back in a couple of weeks for another session with her. I'm so high maintenance!

3 comments:

  1. Hi Joannah, I'm sorry that you're suffering with this. It's one of the pregnancy symptoms that no one talks about much. The good thing is that it will probably disappear quite quickly after your little lady arrives.
    You're on the home stretch now and it will all be so worth it! (even if it takes a little while after Baby arrives to feel like it's worth it. It really, really is.)

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  2. Oh, my, I had something similar and it is really debilitating; I could barely walk for a while (it was somewhere between 20-25 weeks for me). In my case, it was my sacrum (tho everyone kept suggesting it was sciatica or round ligament pain, it just didn't seem to fit what I was feeling). Try googling sacrum pain and see if it matches what you have. I found some exercises online that really helped alleviate the pain. Also, it seemed to dissipate after about 3-4 weeks and I was fine the rest of the pregnancy. I do yoga now, tho didn't then, and sometimes I can feel the same spot ache from a practice. It has helped to gently continue with yoga in those weeks. I hope you can find some relief.

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  3. Rebecca, it's just to the right of my tailbone. I have experienced sacrum pain in the past, and it was actually brought on by a yoga class I was taking at the time. I didn't use enough blankets underneath me and I bruised it. This feels different than that. :)

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