I went into the maternal fetal medicine/ultrasound unit at the hospital this morning for my fourth complete ultrasound, the 30-week ultrasound. At this ultrasound, the goal is to assess the amount of growth of the baby to ensure she is on track (and actually growing) to survive outside of the womb. Unfortunately, Chris was allowed to go only to the 12- and 20-week scans, so the 16-week and this 30-week scan I had to do on my own. Fortunately, the sonographer did allow me to record some of the scanning she did. It was much, much shorter than all of the previous hospital scans I’d done. The 20-week scan was excruciatingly long, but this one lasted probably less than 10 minutes, which I was really surprised by because on the phone when I confirmed my appointment, they told me to set aside at least 30-45 minutes. The sonographer took a close look at her hands, feet, limbs, and measured her head and stomach. She also took a closer look at the baby’s brain. Baby growth still looks good, and her heart beat looks good as well. The doctor said everything looked normal and on track, and he had no concerns. So the next time I go in, which I believe is my last hospital scan, is at 35 weeks.

The sonographer also tried to focus in on the baby’s face to get a 3D image of her, and when I saw it, I thought… wow. She really looks like Chris did when he was a little baby. My little baby looks like my big baby now. 😀

Two chiropractor visits and $150 later, I thought I was on the road to recovery. And last night, I woke up in the middle of the night and knew that something had regressed in my leg right away when I tried to bend it, and my knee immediately hurt. I felt the shooting pains again, and I hobbled my way to the bathroom to pee. Nooooo, I thought to myself. My limp was getting better, and I didn’t need to hobble like this, so why am I hurting AGAIN?

I felt the baby move, and I noticed that again, her position had changed. This is all really being caused by her shift in positions. So maybe the chiropractor helped. But maybe not enough because nothing he does can really prevent the baby from moving into a position that will push down on my nerves.

How long is this going to last? Am I going to be in an on-again, off-again pain situation for the rest of my pregnancy? I was hoping to be physically active and productive for the rest of this pregnancy, and I’m not sure it’s going to be exactly as I envisioned with this sciatic nerve issue. I’m downtrodden. Whyyyyyyy?

The baby had moved positions in the wee hours of the morning before my chiropractor appointment, but I wondered if this visit would additionally help me at all. I went in, spoke with the doctor, and told him where I was experiencing pain and what it felt like. He asked some follow up questions and asked some clarifying questions, and he came to the conclusion that I was suffering from facet syndrome with mild sciatic neuropathy as a result of the uterus pushing down on my facet bones in my pelvic region and ultimately my sciatic nerve. He massaged my lower back, some pressure points around my butt bone and hip, and also adjusted me in three different spots. Well, no one is going to complain about a massage! And the adjustments felt really good, though the first one did seem a little scary initially. While all of this was a new experience to me, I actually found it a little comical that it had taken me this long to see a chiropractor. Both my parents regularly see the same chiropractor. When Ed was still here, he saw the same family chiropractor, as well. It was really only a matter of time before I finally saw one, too.

He ended our session by whipping out an object that appeared to be a cross between a drill and a multiple-bullet nerf gun. It looked pretty terrifying. He said that it might hurt a bit, but he also insisted that it would help relieve a lot of my tightness along my hip and IT band in my leg. So he applied it on both sides, slowly running it up and down the sides of my thighs and hips, and while it was a little painful initially, the pain gradually transitioned into a rough massage feeling, and when he finally shut the device off, I felt even further relief. “So, what is that called, and I can get one of those things?” I asked him, grinning.

Welp, lay people like myself can’t just pick up one of those devices from Amazon. You actually have to be a certified chiropractor with a practice to use those things. At least I tried to ask.

I went back again today. If anything, the visit was worth it just for the massage and that amazing drill-nerf gun device, which could be like my new best friend.

Last night until about 2-3am, it was pretty much impossible to find a position that was comfortable and didn’t result in burning sensations or shooting pains down my hip and right leg. I kept trying to adjust in bed, and everything failed. Chris finally dragged the sturdy leather chair from the second bedroom into our bedroom, and we took a big diaper box and plopped it in front of the chair as a makeshift leg stool. He arranged the pillows and blankets on the chair for me to attempt to sleep there. It was much more comfortable there, and I pushed the ice pack onto my right hip for relief. It still hurt, but I felt more comfortable half lying on something that was more sturdy since our mattress really isn’t too firm. The pain lingered until about 3am, and suddenly, something, or SOMEONE, shifted in me. I could feel her movement change and the areas where I felt her hands and feet were not the same anymore. At that point, I needed to pee, so I slowly tried to get myself up, and I quickly realized that it was so much easier than a few hours ago. While my right leg was still weak, I didn’t have the same kind of weakness in my knee. I could walk more comfortably, and it seemed like a relief. The shooting and burning feelings were gone, too. THANK GOD.

After I used the bathroom, I attempted to go back to bed to sleep. I still couldn’t lie down and feel comfortable, so instead, I just sat at about a 45 degree angle and fell asleep. It felt like a small victory… all because baby likely decided to shift her position.

This little baby could very much be both the biggest blessing and the biggest pain of my life.

This morning, I was limping. I knew that I wasn’t even close to 100 percent, but I wasn’t experiencing any shooting pains down my leg, so I figured I could at least go to the gym to walk on the treadmill, do some upper body exercises, and stretch my back and limbs, so I did that. Except, well, the stretching of the limbs didn’t really go so well. I knew something felt wrong when I got up from my child’s pose and felt a deeper dull ache on my right side. I limped my way out of the gym and onto the elevator, back to my apartment. Undressing for the shower was extremely uncomfortable; I had to sit down the whole time while undressing. And then finally when I got all my clothes off, I tried going to the bathroom and totally failed. I ended up crouching, then lying on the floor naked, wondering how I had come to this. I kept trying to get up, but my right leg felt so weak and the shooting pains were starting again that I could barely gather the energy to get my entire body up. So I gave up and just laid there, feeling miserable and sorry for myself. I Slacked my boss to let her know I had to take the afternoon off and that I’d reschedule all my meetings.

Then, I laid there for a good 30 minutes before I was finally able to get up, limping even harder into the bathroom. I somehow found the energy to make it into the shower. Boy, did THAT take a lot of effort. I think the warmth of the water really helped because after that, I was actually more mobile and nimble. I then proceeded to call multiple chiropractor offices to see if they’d take my insurance and tried to make the closest appointment possible. Unfortunately, none of them were in-network with ANY insurance (how fun for me), but I was desperate and I needed SOMEONE to help me feel better.

I finally made an appointment for 10am the next day, and I hope this helps. It will be my first time at a chiropractor’s office, so I hope I leave feeling better and not broken.

The pain doesn’t seem to be stopping. And the worst part is, it’s inconsistent regarding what actually makes me feel better. Lying all the way down feels terrible regardless of what position it is. Sitting for too long is uncomfortable. Walking, surprisingly enough, is actually comfortable despite the pain I feel when the weight is on the right side. But then when I did some new stretches this afternoon that were supposed to help, I felt even worse. I laid on the bed for a good half hour, constantly switching positions and having no clue how to alleviate the pain.

Chris suggested I walk in the pool, as the water could help. So I walked up and down the lines for a while and finished with a few swims on my back because I can’t be bothered sticking my face in the water. That felt pretty good. Then, I carefully went into the jacuzzi, trying to ensure the belly wasn’t submerged in the water, just to get the jets pushing water out against my thighs right along my IT band where the pain seems to be. While all of that felt good, as soon as I got out of the water, I didn’t feel good again. What is going to help…. someone please help meeeee.

I contacted my doula, who suggested prenatal massage and/or a chiropractor who specializes in pregnancy. I emailed my OB for help. I even texted the trainer at the gym for some stretching advice. Why do I have all these lines of support yet I still feel miserable and like nothing is actually concretely helping me in this moment?

On Thursday night, I started feeling a strange dull pain in my right hip. I didn’t think much of it and did my usual activities and slept in the usual position I have been in since the second trimester began, which is lying on my left side with a huge long pillow between my legs. I figured that I probably just pulled a muscle or had some other minor injury at the gym, and I’d probably be fine the next day after a night’s rest. The next morning, the pain was still there and felt the same, and I was able to use the elliptical and do some yoga. But during yoga, something felt really off in my right side. It just felt very tight, and I couldn’t quite explain it. And then during the day, I realized I had to limp occasionally to walk, which was really frustrating. And the real doozy was Friday evening trying to go to bed. I woke up at around 1:30am from shooting pains radiating down my hip into my knee. And I knew it had to be pregnancy related.

In the third trimester when a pregnant woman’s uterus is expanding the most for the growing baby, at the same time a hormone called relaxin is being released by her body, allowing her joints and ligaments to soften and make more space for the birth canal to widen to allow the baby to eventually get pushed through and be born. The potential side effect of this, though, is that the growing uterus can push against one’s sciatic nerve, causing all kinds of pains from the pelvic on downwards. The baby’s position in utero can also push down on sensitive nerves. It’s been said that yoga poses like child’s pose, figure four stretch, pigeon pose, and runner’s lunge are supposed to help and even eliminate the pain. But for me, other than child’s pose, they seem to have made my situation worse and my pain deepen. Child’s pose provides relief during the stretch, but once I am out of that position, the pain still seems to be the same unfortunately.

Chris helped me rearrange the pillows. We tried a cold ice pack to alleviate the pain. I ended up having to position myself nearly sitting completely upright to get comfortable before finally falling asleep. It was miserable. While changing positions constantly in pain, I thought back to the trainer at the gym who told me that I’d likely be pain and ache free throughout my pregnancy because I’d been so diligent about working out and keeping active, and I laughed to myself, realizing how wrong he was. Sciatica apparently does not discriminate like that. It can really affect anyone who is pregnant, including, unfortunately, me.

I woke up this morning and slowly started getting myself alert by doing my usual thing: checking email and reading news on my phone. But when I got up and out of bed, my stomach suddenly started hurting. So I decided to lay in bed for about ten more minutes to see if the ache stopped. It didn’t. Maybe I just needed to use the bathroom, I thought, so I went on to the toilet and did my thing, bowel movements and all. Even after that, I still didn’t feel better, and the aching felt especially strong when I was standing up. So I went back to bed to lie down to see if the pain would subside. I quickly Googled “stomach ache while pregnant” to see what results came up, and the results said that if the pain lasts for more than 30-60 minutes of resting, then I needed to call my doctor. I wasn’t experiencing any dizziness, lower back pain, fever, or bleeding, and I know for a fact that my water didn’t break, so this couldn’t be pre-term labor, right? I honestly wasn’t sure and just hoped for the best. I touched my stomach and noticed it felt rock hard, but I could feel the baby moving every now and then inside. Maybe this was a combination of stomach ache and Braxton Hicks (fake) contractions?

About 15 minutes later, the pain fully subsided, as did the hardness on my belly. And I could feel little baby squirm around again inside, kicking me on my right side. Phew, I thought. That was a relief. I’m at week 29, and ideally for the baby’s health, I’d like us to be as close to full term as possible. It’s a bit funny (and terrifying) that something as seemingly simple as a stomach ache can be a bit alarming while pregnant because a stomach ache can oftentimes be much more than just that when you are pregnant with a tiny growing human inside you.

While many expectant moms and dads exclaim, “I can’t wait to meet baby!”, I am definitely not at that stage just yet. I can wait just fine for the baby to grow more and come out. I have quite a long list of “to-dos” that are both necessary to make sure baby is taken care of when she arrives, as well as fun to-dos that I’d like to do with my full baby-free freedom, which has numbered days now.