Well. It’s been a long while since I’ve posted about anything pregnancy related. Which is kind of strange considering it’s all I can seem to think about these days!
Problem is, I am so completely terrible at keeping up to date with my blogs that things never seem to get recorded.
Which, I guess, is why after weeks of me saying “oh, I don’t need to take any pictures of myself just yet, I’ve hardly changed, I’ll wait until there’s something there to see“, I’ve suddenly woken up this morning and realised that all of a sudden I look very, very pregnant…
Yep. That’s me. The one with the supersize belly and only just made it past halfway.
Man alive – what am I gonna look like full term?!
And don’t be fooled – if you think you can see any semblance of that so-called “second trimester glow”, let me tell you – I got lucky with the lighting. I’m pretty much going through the mill right now.
I had morning sickness up to around 17 weeks, then all seemed to go well up until last week. Early in the week I started to get some pretty bad aches and pains in my lower back. Perfectly normal, says I, and I just carried on. Last weekend I was at work and noticed a really strange feeling in my feet… I look down and – whoa. My feet had very literally doubled in size.
I’d had my shoes off cause it was a hot day, but when I tried to put them back on (more out of curiosity than anything, and wondering if my eyes were playing tricks on me) I couldn’t. They would even fit a teeny bit. Later on in the afternoon they got even bigger. By now they had probably tripled in size, and the weird tingly feeling I had in my feet was working its way up my ankles and calves, which obviously didn’t want to be left out of the fun and started to swell, too.
I know swelling in pregnancy is normal, but this just felt weird. Like something wasn’t quite right. By now it was about 2pm.
I called the emergency doctors and was advised to come in to check blood pressure and let them “have a look” at what was going on.
So, Shaun and I got there around 6pm. We then spent about another hour waiting to be seen (typical doctors, right!). Once in the office I explained what had happened, took off my slippers (the only things I could find that would fit!) and let the doctor examine me. He took my blood pressure, which he said was “right on the top side of normal, but still OK for now”, and then he did the strangest thing…
He put his thumb onto my leg and pushed really hard for about 10 seconds. It hurt a little, but was more uncomfortable than anything. When he took his thumb away, the dent he had made stayed there. Oh my goodness, it was so surreal. Skin isn’t supposed to do that!! After I finished being completely freaked out, he said that this is what he was expecting, and it tells us that it is only fluid that is in my legs as opposed to something like a blood clot. He said it was called pitting edema, and along with high blood pressure and protein in urine, was one of the symptoms for preeclampsia. But, because my blood pressure was for now still in the normal range, he advised to just rest and visit my doctor a couple of weeks later with a urine sample and to have my blood pressure re-tested. This was all last Saturday 3rd July.
Oish. Well. It never rains but it pours…
By Monday morning my feet and legs had pretty much returned to normal. Unfortunately for me, the little aches and pains I’d been getting in my back turned into much more and pretty much pushed me to breaking point. I called in sick from work because it was that bad – I could hardly move. And the pains seemed to have moved from my back and more towards my front, where I would expect the bottom of my pelvis to be.
I spent Monday resting as much as I could, then when Tuesday rolled around and I was only getting worse, I called my midwife and then on her recommendation, headed to the doctors.
I explained my symptoms to him – trouble climbing stairs, getting in and out of bed, rolling over in bed and pretty much anything that forces my legs any other way than together. I explained how every time I had to have my legs apart for whatever reason (even walking), it felt as though they were being ripped apart at my pelvis. Deep joy.
Anyway, he knew straight away what it was, and told me I was experiencing “Symphysis Pubis Dysfunction (SPD)”. I’ve since done some research and found out that the technical term for this is now “Pelvic Girdle Pain (PGP)”.
What this delightful condition means is that during pregnancy, a hormone called “relaxin” is released into the body to soften ligaments in the pelvis and allow baby an easier passage out into the world. Fair enough.
Unfortunately, for some lucky ladies, too much relaxin can be released (and much too soon), resulting in anything from mild discomfort to complete agony as the ligaments soften too much and the pelvic bones misalign. I guess I’m extra lucky, considering this has started happening to me just over halfway through my pregnancy, and if I’m in agony now I dread to think how much worse it’s going to get – in the words of my doctor, “it’ll only get worse from here until your baby is born”. Oh, joy! Elation!
At least something is being done. I’ve been given a prescription for safe painkillers, and have been referred to a physiotherapist. But the latter can take up to 6 weeks. In the mean time it’s just a case of having to “grin and bear it”.
So now, I’m trying to make the decision between taking further time away from work (I’ve already been off for a week) and being able to rest and make myself comfortable at home however I can (although nothing seems to help), or go back to work and be in pain there, but not be able to do anything to help it if I need to. Tough decision – I’m bored out of my brains at home, but at least I can listen to my body. At work I’d be kept busy, and I do only sit at a desk all day, but would that be at the detriment of my health? I don’t know…
- posted on 25/07/2010 10:18:14