Pregnancy Pains (again)

Pelvic dysplasia, or pelvic joint pain, is a little-known, but extremely painful, side effect of pregnancy. I guess not every woman suffers from it, but I do.

During pregnancy, we produce the hormone Relaxin whose purpose is to relax the pelvic bones ready to deliver a baby. In some cases, the pelvis relaxes too much and too early, resulting in agonising pain in the hips and pelvis caused by the pelvic joint grinding together. The surrounding muscles becomes inflamed and, to add insult to injury, the surrounding nerves are irritated resulting in mild to severe sciatica.

So if you can imagine having aching hips, burning pelvic joints and shooting pains in your buttocks and down the backs of your thighs, then you might be able to imagine something of what I'm going through.

The pain is worst at night when I try to sleep on my side, which pushes my hips in awkward directions. I end up sleeping in a twist on my back, which means I wake up every morning with crippling back pain and hips that have frozen into a painful, stiff board preventing me from moving.

It happened when I was pregnant with Jude, and I'd never heard of pelvic dysplasia so I had no idea why I was in pain, then my doctor referred me to a physiotherapist and it all became clear. Now it has struck me quite early in this pregnancy (17 weeks), so I headed straight to the nearest physiotherapist without passing Go, and I've ordered a pelvic brace to wear during the day to try and hold my hips in place. I really hope it helps, because I can't stand another 22 weeks of this!

The only good news is, it goes away the very second the baby is born so at least it is not permanent, although I think after Jude I was always a little bit uneven in the hips so I'll make sure I get postnatal physiotherapy this time.