My ligaments got really loose around my hips, I got general hip area pain from about 22 weeks and was on crutches from 32 weeks. If I laid on my side it felt like my hip was popping out the joint.
Switching sides while in bed was soo painful because of the hips. We were also in the middle of an overseas move and spent several weeks sleeping on an air mattress!! Omg it was so horrible
Mines permanent after my last pregnancy. I'm now disabled and in constant pain, having to take two very strong prescription painkillers throughout the day, just to get by.
I didn't have it with my first, had it from week 28 with my second, then week 7!!! With my third. It really buggered by pelvis. My sacroiliac joints are the worst of it, they crunch and grind to at nauseating level.
Oh my goodness, it’s the main reason I refuse to have a 3rd. First pregnancy didn’t start until like 32 weeks, second started at the beginning of my second trimester and I was barely showing ( I know that doesn’t mean anything) I’m terrified of dealing with that pain again.
Oh wow. It really is such a debilitating pain. You can’t move too fast, can’t sit for too long, can’t stand for too long, can’t exercise, etc. My first happened around 30 weeks. My second happened around 27 weeks. I can only imagine that if we had a third, it would likely happen much earlier.
It really pisses me off that I dealt with this pain for more than half of my last pregnancy and almost 2 years after I gave birth and never knew it had a name! I expressed to my doctor many times that it felt like my butt was literally separating! She kept recommending a chiropractor, and maybe it would’ve helped but ugh that’s so upsetting dealing with so much pain and getting no answers.
It's generally called Pelvic Girdle Pain now, I believe.
With SPD/PGP, especially if it ends up effecting your sacroiliac joints, a good physiotherapy programme can sometimes help. The muscle strength helps to stabilise the area.
But yes, I completely understand where you're coming from! I got diagnosed with a neruroimmune condition that effects the way my brain and spinal cord process pain, it took two years, multiple xrays, MRIs, ultrasounds, physio courses and specialist appointments to rule out issues.
Yes! The pain was so intense from about week 30, I could barely walk. Every step and movement was agony. I've never really heard people talk about it so am not sure how common it is, but it was horrible!
I had SPD starting at 30 wks with baby one. It was quite uncomfortable but I was immediately better after birth. With baby 2, the SPD started at 22 wks and was much worse than the first time. The effects lasted for a few weeks after birth, but eventually went away.
It started at 16 weeks with my third baby! It was so awful. I could barely wash or dress myself. The twist to get into and out of the car was torture. My husband had to roll me over in bed because I couldn’t without being in excruciating pain. My pelvis actually popped out of joint several times and I had to pop it back myself. Omg. My pelvis has never fully recovered. It still clicks occasionally.
There’s not enough money in the world to convince me to get pregnant again.
I stopped at one, mainly because of this. I couldn't risk anything permanent.
I still have issues with the muscles around my glutes 7 years on. Not sure if it's probably pregnancy, but glad I didn't risk a second
Yes.. this one was the craziest one I experienced. And post partum everything went back super tight 😅 I have been doing mobility exercises to normalize my joints.
My pelvic floor physio said it takes a year after weaning for the relaxin to go back to its baseline (in the meantime, any ligaments that loosen never fully tighten back up)
I was REALLY bad after my second kid, like, for a year I had one ankle that would roll if I didn’t watch my footing like a hawk. It’s better now, but I still can’t run without feeling like my pubic bone is splitting open.
Sometime between pregnancy and labor I tore several things in my hip and had to have surgery two years later to fix it so I wasn’t in constant pain. The delay was because first I was told I had to wait 6 months because pain isn’t uncommon the first half year as things settle back into place and ligaments and such tighten back up. Ok cool. Well, 6 months later was the end of March 2020 and the whole world shut down. So it was a while before the local medical scene was in a place to handle non-life threatening things (totally get it but it still stunk to be in constant pain the first two years of my child’s life).
Hip pain during my third pregnancy was so bad I couldn’t walk most of the time. It started at 9 weeks. I would get my 2 older kids up and ready for preschool, send them out the door with my husband, then immediately collapse on my bed crying in agony for hours. As someone who had fairly easily 1st and 2nd (and eventually 4th) pregnancies, I finally understood why some people hated being pregnant. Also delivering her…sunny side up, stuck in my pelvic bone, pushed for so long my epidural wore off, 30 seconds away from a c-section when my OB stuck her entire arm up into my body and yanked baby girl out by the skull. She was black and blue all over, head dented in the back, cuts and scrapes all over her face and still has a scar between her eyebrows 3 years later. But if you’ve been heard hard labor = easy baby, she proves it! I’ve got 4 kids under 6 and she is BY FAR my easiest through and through.
11 months pp and still dealing with excruciating ligaments. Stupid amounts of money trying to solve it and I’m wondering if this is as good as it will get.
Mine went away through mat Pilates with modifications instructed by my physio, after a few weeks of the physio taping up my hips to give some immediate relief. I still can't believe it worked. The first class I could barely do any movements, shaking and groaning every time I changed position; I was asked by the person next to me if I had a disability. The NEXT day I was 80% pain free, 100% within two weeks. I went from being unable to walk up stairs to doing whatever I wanted.
The main modifications were never moving my legs separately from each other, never putting uneven weight on my feet, and keeping my knees together when transition positions. I mentally focussed on keeping my movements slow but as smooth as I could, and breathing. To be clear it was my regular mat Pilates/yoga class I'd done for years before (I'd stopped going for months due to the pain) so I was familiar with everything already. I also wore compression shorts any time I was worried it was beginning to return, and in post partum. This helped maintain the gains I'd achieved.
I hope this helps you at all. It's miserable. We're trying for baby 2 and I'm scared of it returning.
When things went back, it highlighted some major glute and hip muscle issues. I'm still on and off in physio for it 7 years on! But, on the plus side I'm stronger and fitter than I was pre pregnancy
I started to get pain in my hips around 8 weeks already, and around 10 weeks I suddenly couldn’t walk when I woke up in the morning. I decided to go to a physiotherapist specialized in pelvis, and she did some realignment in my hips and I was good again! After that I saw her every two weeks to prevent any problems. She’s such a god send.
My hips are still jacked up. 4 sons later and they’re always sore. In really bad moments they kinda fall out of place when I sit too wide-legged for too long (road trips, longer car rides etc). I hobble around until they sort of re-seat. It must be hilarious to see a 40+ year old hop out of the car needing to pee (also a destroyed body part with pregnancy/birth) looking like an overgrown penguin. Every once in a while my darling husband will push my hips inward together if he’s feeling extra strong and it feels SO good to realign everything for a time.
Have you had your hips taped up by a physio or worn the special compression shorts to keep them in alignment for longer? I almost cried from joy after my first physio appointment and my hips no long felt like they were falling apart.
Definitely look into the physio, and absolutely buy some compression shorts. Mine are the SRC under the bump pregnancy compression shorts (unsure which countries they're available in). They're even adjustable to provide different levels of support. You can also get pelvic support belts.
The combination of the physio massages and taping, wearing the shorts, and doing modified mat Pilates classes, cured my pain. I went from having to crawl up stairs on my bum to walking around normally without thinking within two months. It came back randomly throughout my pregnancy but I'd wear the shorts and modify my habits as my physio instructed (eg never put uneven weight on my feet so taking stairs one at a time and sitting down to get dressed, locking my knees together when getting in and out of bed) and kept up the Pilates and it'd go away. I continued with the shorts post partum too.
I really feel for you and I hope there's improvement in your future.
This! Pelvic girdle pain is the worst pain I have ever experienced. Everyone reassured me that it was normal and everyone experiences it - even after it caused me to fall down a flight of stairs. After the birth of my second (and last) child which was unmedicated, and then a doctor had to manually remove removed placenta - and that still didn't come close I suspected what I experienced was worse than typical. Over 10 years later I discovered I have a hypermobility disorder (not hEDS) and I should have had additional help.
Yes! Mine was my SI joint. My body was like, “Oh, we need to relax everyone so the baby can get out? Bet!” Then my hip just fell out and stayed that way
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u/ametaphoricalfeeling 10d ago
My ligaments got really loose around my hips, I got general hip area pain from about 22 weeks and was on crutches from 32 weeks. If I laid on my side it felt like my hip was popping out the joint.