I sincerely apologize to any first time expecting mommies (or those readers who have not yet entered the world of baby growing) for my constant complaining about my hip and pelvis pain and hope I haven\u2019t scared anyone too much, thinking this is what pregnancy is like (and I hope this one doesn\u2019t scare anyone either!).\u00a0 While I knew what I\u2019ve been experiencing is not normal (I didn\u2019t have it the past two times), I was trying to convince myself it was something I was doing.\u00a0 It turns out I most likely have a condition called Symphysis Pubis Dysfunction (abbreviated SPD).<\/p>\n
When my pubic bone started popping at night and my midwife was unfamiliar with the problem, I took to Google.\u00a0 While not commonly diagnosed in the states, my Google search extravaganza led me to some great UK sites with information that made me realize my dancing and activity is not to blame, it\u2019s an internal body malfunction.\u00a0 At the most basic level, SPD is an overabundance of relaxin (the hormone secreted to soften the pelvic ligaments and prepare for extra movement and stretchiness during birth) which causes mild to severe pain in the hips, pelvis and pubic region and sometimes back, butt and thigh pain.\u00a0 While estimated to affect one in four pregnant women, the lack of knowledge about it in the US makes it hard to really know (turns out though that I have at least 2 friends who had similar pain, one of which actually ended up on crutches from debilitating pain).<\/p>\n
For me, the pain and discomfort has been slowly building.\u00a0 It started back when I reentered the dance studio (see Baby Bump in the Ballet Studio<\/a>).\u00a0 While I did not experience much discomfort while dancing, often upon returning home I would have terrible pain which made me unable to lift my legs to put pants on, etc.\u00a0 I never thought much about it and assumed it had to do with the dancing (see It’s All in the Hips<\/a>).\u00a0 It turns out this is the basic pain of SPD, it is extremely uncomfortable to separate your knees (both apart to the side and lifting one higher than the other).\u00a0 I am now unable to roll over in bed without pain.\u00a0 Keeping my knees together and sitting up before turning over helps but does not in any way eliminate the pain.<\/p>\n The worst for me is first thing in the morning (or midnight potty breaks) when I\u2019ve been generally still for hours.\u00a0 Getting out of bed is difficult and walking to the bathroom is extremely painful as my entire pelvis and back feel immobile and I waddle half leaned forward like a little old lady.\u00a0 Usually sitting on the toilet somehow helps loosen things up and I\u2019m usually okay from then on (not completely pain free but at least mobile).<\/p>\n I hit rock bottom a few mornings ago when I woke up and could not get out of bed.\u00a0 Hubby was away on business and I got myself partially to sitting and then could not move my legs.\u00a0 I had to lay back down, roll on to my tummy (imagine that one at 8+ months pregnant) and push myself to the edge of the bed where I could get my feet down on the floor and then hobble to the girls\u2019 room to let them out (we keep a baby gate on their door since they are near the pool door which they both know how to open).<\/p>\n Each night the pain and morning mobility has gotten worse.\u00a0 Yesterday morning I waited to get out of bed until hubby was able to help walk me to the toilet.\u00a0 My midnight stroll to the potty turned into my groping down the walls to get there (and sheer panic when I saw hubby had politely put the lid down and I could barely bend down far enough to open it).\u00a0 And early this morning while attempting to roll over, I was able to get to partially sitting but then had to physically hold my legs together with my hand while I turned over.<\/p>\n None of this has helped my hatred of sleeping (though I\u2019ve actually been sleeping well while I\u2019m in bed) and all I can do is focus on when this sweet little bundle will be here and the hope that my debilitating pain will disappear once s\/he is out.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I sincerely apologize to any first time expecting mommies (or those readers who have not yet entered the world of baby growing) for my constant complaining about my hip and pelvis pain and hope I haven\u2019t scared anyone too much, thinking this is what pregnancy is like (and I hope this one doesn\u2019t scare anyone […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-653","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-baby-business","category-family-life"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/653","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=653"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/653\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7881,"href":"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/653\/revisions\/7881"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=653"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=653"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=653"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}