Are you sitting comfortably? Well, actually, no...
This is not what I'd planned to write about today, but I'm feeling a bit sad about it all and hoped writing might help. In my previous pregnancy with Boy, towards the end I suffered with a condition called SPD (symphysis pubic dysfunction) causing pain in my hips and legs. I required the use of crutches, a handsome support band and acupuncture. It made my labour HELL ON EARTH, as from about 8 hours in (it lasted around 50) I stopped being able to tell the difference between a contraction and SPD pain, so it was like one long contraction. (And the gas & air and pethidine didn't even touch it).
But I digress. This time, I knew I was more likely to suffer again, but I had been lulled into a false sense of security by my short lived morning sickness (just two weeks instead of the previous seven and a half months), and seemed to be having a blissed-out pregnancy.
Two weeks ago, (at just 16 weeks pregnant) while HID was away visiting family, my SPD kicked in while I bathed my Boy and I got "stuck" on the bathroom floor. As soon as Monday rolled around, I was at the midwife's, being booked in for physio, for which I only had to wait a week and a bit. Very impressive for the NHS.
I attended my appointment today, and described my biggest causes of pain, sitting on the floor to play, carrying my 15 month old who only took his first steps a week ago (it will be quite some time before he is a truly independent walker). She told me that under no circumstances am I to sit on the floor, in any position, to play with my baby. I choked back tears as I told her I understood. My Boy won't understand though. I'm going to seem like such a mean Mummy, not joining in his games and expecting him to play alone, with just a spectator for company.
Standing one one leg (i.e. putting more weight on one side of the pelvis than the other) is also a major no-no, and since when walking, you stand one one leg, then the other, then the other etc., I am also banned from any non-necessary walking. This is an outrageous shame, not least because Boy has just started walking, but also as I view walking as a free, healthy and enjoyable hobby, that gets us all out of the house. Plus the weather seems to be thinking about being spring.
So now I sit, writing this, on a straight backed dining chair that must replace my reckless lounging on the sofa (which would involve an uneven distribution of weight), already rather bored of putting both feet flat on the floor, it seems so unnatural to sit with my legs uncrossed.
Has anyone out there reading had SPD, perhaps with toddler in tow, any tips to save my sanity, and my overwhelming Mummy-guilt that saw me almost cry in the physio's office today?
Grown.
posted by allgrownup @ 4:19 pm
2 Comments
2 Comments:
So I've just popped over to say hello and thank you for leaving such lovely comments on my blog... and I find you like this!! And you'll never believe it but I had SPD too. Seriously. It was hideous - towards the end of my first pregancy I couldn't walk - I literally just sat on the sofa for two months feeling very sorry for myself. A maternity pillow stuffed between my legs at night helped a bit with the sleeping. As for pregnancy number two - well the first signs of a recurrance came at just 2 and a half months!! I wasn't even showing. I literally couldn't walk down the road for more than 5 steps. I was totally devastated and remember crying when I thought that the next 7 months would be spent in hideous pain. But then I read an article about a really good osteopath who specialised in regnant womens' problems, including SPD!! I don't know where you are but he's based in Brighton, Hastings, South Coast, etc and he's amazing. He totally sorted me out and although I had a few niggles the whole way through the pregnancy it was bearable. If only I had heard about him for my first pregnancy! In fact I had physiotherapy through the NHS with the first and it wa suseless. DIdn't help at all. They gave me a very attractive belt and crutches but I couldn't walk so what was the point?! You muct go and see someone because it's really upsetting for you to be in so much pain - especially with a toddler as well.
It's more common than people think isn't it? I've not even got a bump yet either, grrr, already struggling to get about. I'm having physio on NHS, had acupuncture on Thursday, didn't seem to make a difference...unfortunately, I live way up north, but I am considering looking for private, more modern remedies than the NHS offers. It's simply not fair to expect my 15 month old to understand mummy can't sit on the floor to play, and we can't really go out for a walk either....thanks for the moral support, it's so nice knowing I'm not the only one!
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