Sunday, December 13, 2009

Round ligament pain

No idea what it is? I didn't either! The good thing about being pregnant is that you learn something new everyday! (Do you like how I'm trying desperately to see the silver lining here?!) Anyway, late Wednesday night I started feeling some pain in my lower abdomen, nothing excruciating but still very uncomfortable. I told myself it was nothing and if it was still there in the morning then I would call my Dr. Well I woke up the next day and still felt the pain. I went to school figuring I would call during my plan period. I have duty in the parking lot in the morning so I went out, still concerned about what was going on. As I was standing out there, who should drive by to drop off her daughter but my parent/favorite nurse! She nicely asked how I was doing. Funny you should ask! So I explained what was going on and she listened. When I was finished she said three words... round ligament pain. Oh ok! Wait, what is that? Thankfully she was patient enough to tell me about it, apparently as the uterus grows the muscles that support it have to stretch and that is the pain that I've been feeling. I felt such relief to know that everything was ok and that it was perfectly normal! I really am so thankful that my nurse just happened to be there and was nice enough to answer a random question in the school parking lot! She also gave me some tips to help ease the pain. Water and rest. Water I can do but rest... ha! So I've been trying to drink a lot more water and I've been TRYING to sit more at school and walk slower when I'm up and about. It's been getting better but I still have some aches and occasional shooting pains as I'm changing positions. I shouldn't really be surprised by these pains since my tummy has been growing A LOT lately. It's hard to tell on the belly pic below but I certainly FEEL bigger ;)

I'm about 17 weeks, 2 days here.

It feels much bigger than it looks!
On a side note, James and I went to Winterhaven last night with my mom and sisters. It was a lot of fun! I always enjoy the awesome light displays :) Since I've been experiencing some pain with a lot of movement, I've been having to walk slower. I have always been a fast walker. I do what my family refers to as the "Disneyland walk." You walk very quickly to get somewhere and this how I normally walk, yes, even through Winterhaven. Well this year was a bit different. The rest of my family could still do the Disneyland walk whereas I could not. I had to keep asking them to slow down and I even had to sit once. I thought that I did very well considering I'm more than four months pregnant and we stayed for nearly two hours and waaaay past my bedtime. James and I were excited to think that next year we'll have a little one to share Winterhaven with! :)

2 comments:

Leah Spencer said...

I had a clue about the ligament pain, and my midwife explained it a bit last time. Normally the muscle is about the size of your pinkie in length and thickness. By the time you have the baby, it'll be as long as a pencil, as just as thin. Yeouch!

I'm feeling twinges from mine, mostly if I stretch, move or cough wrong. Thankfully I can make my pain go away with moving to a more comfortable position and taking some relaxing breaths.

Now my hips? Uh uh. When I walk to the car, I let Chris lock the doors. I'll beat him downstairs, but he always overtakes me by the time we reach the truck. I'm slow! :)

torn ligament said...

You should protect your joints with an elastic bandage if you have had multiple ligament tears. Avoid sports that have quick, strenuous movements such as squash, tennis, sprints etc…