Back pain?

Hey everyone!

My turn to ask for advice. I am having terrible back pain at night,
lately. I'm generally fine during the day, but at night, I get bad mid-back
and lower back pain, increasing until I get up again in the morning. It's
been waking me up multiple times each night. (Wouldn't you know, just when
my daughter started sleeping through the night again. grin) I have been
going to bed with a hot water bottle to my lower back, which helps to go to
sleep, but really, I'm fairly uncomfortable all night long. Any idea why
this would be, or what I could do? I'm 18 weeks along, iirc. And our
mattress is very firm, so it isn't a soft mattress thing.

All suggestions and advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Donna

On Sat, 21 Feb 2004 18:22:48 -0500, "Donna"
wrote:

Hey everyone!

My turn to ask for advice. I am having terrible back pain at night,
lately. I'm generally fine during the day, but at night, I get bad mid-back
and lower back pain, increasing until I get up again in the morning. It's
been waking me up multiple times each night. (Wouldn't you know, just when
my daughter started sleeping through the night again. grin) I have been
going to bed with a hot water bottle to my lower back, which helps to go to
sleep, but really, I'm fairly uncomfortable all night long. Any idea why
this would be, or what I could do? I'm 18 weeks along, iirc. And our
mattress is very firm, so it isn't a soft mattress thing.

All suggestions and advice would be greatly appreciated.

Hate to say it, but it sounds exactly like mine and it's lasted
straight through the present day (I'm 38 weeks). My childbirth
educator says that the entire uterus is attached to the back by three
ligaments all of which connect at pretty much the same place, so when
you lie down they all pull with the weight. No wonder that place and
the area around it hurt!

Best I've found for it is piling a lot of pillows around me, so that
whatever way I turn I've got support under my legs, my breasts, my
back and my belly. Unfortunately this works best when it is combined
with turning over frequently, and getting up periodically (which I'd
have to do to go to the bathroom anyway) and if you have the pillows
all over, both of these can require rearranging annoying amounts of
the time. (I've given up by now keeping large pillows on the outside
edge of the bed -- I don't wanna have to climb over them to get to the
bathroom!) I still hurt a lot of the time, I still go to bed with
pre-emptive Tylenol about half the evenings, and morning still aches.
But I can sleep. That's the best I've managed so far, and my doctor,
while sympathetic, says it's the best she can suggest.

Naomi
#1 EDD 3/06/04

Hi Donna,
I don't know if this will help or not, but you can get a tempur-pedic
mattress pad to put over any mattress and it is REALLY comfy. We
added one to an older mattress that we couldn't really replace yet and
I love it- kind of shapes to you and supports at the same time. They
come in 2 inch, 3 inch and 4 inch sizes and you can get them on line-
for us- a 3 inch ran around 100$ but was worth every cent. You can
test it out at most mattress stores- it feels pretty much like the
regular tempur-pedic mattress (they are really expensive) Hope you
feel better soon.
Jess

"Donna" wrote in message ...
Hey everyone!

My turn to ask for advice. I am having terrible back pain at night,
lately. I'm generally fine during the day, but at night, I get bad mid-back
and lower back pain, increasing until I get up again in the morning. It's
been waking me up multiple times each night. (Wouldn't you know, just when
my daughter started sleeping through the night again. grin) I have been
going to bed with a hot water bottle to my lower back, which helps to go to
sleep, but really, I'm fairly uncomfortable all night long. Any idea why
this would be, or what I could do? I'm 18 weeks along, iirc. And our
mattress is very firm, so it isn't a soft mattress thing.

All suggestions and advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Donna

Donna wrote:

Hey everyone!

My turn to ask for advice. I am having terrible back pain at night,
lately. I'm generally fine during the day, but at night, I get bad mid-back
and lower back pain, increasing until I get up again in the morning. It's
been waking me up multiple times each night. (Wouldn't you know, just when
my daughter started sleeping through the night again. grin) I have been
going to bed with a hot water bottle to my lower back, which helps to go to
sleep, but really, I'm fairly uncomfortable all night long. Any idea why
this would be, or what I could do? I'm 18 weeks along, iirc. And our
mattress is very firm, so it isn't a soft mattress thing.

All suggestions and advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Donna



The following is mostly based on my age-old battle with arthritis and
general back problems, so take with a grain of salt if you wish (not
sure how this advice would apply to someone farther along in pregnancy
than I am)...

Are you able to sleep on your back? If so, then either keep your knees
bent on your own (hooking the blanket under your feet will keep them
from sliding down), or put a stack of pillows under your legs. This
will allow your back to rest.

If you are unable to sleep on your back, then put pillows between your
knees to keep your legs apart, and try to sleep with your knees bent
forward (like you're sitting). I find that this is inferior, but it's
better than nothing when you can't lie on your back.

Last but not least, stretch your gluts, if you can. It's hard to
stretch them with a big belly, but someone mentioned the stretch where
you put one ankle on the other leg while sitting down (sit like a guy,
basically), and then push down on the knee of the crossed leg. This is
a cheap way to stretch the gluts. It doesn't work as well, but
sometimes it's the only way to do it. If you can't get satisfaction
from this, then get your partner to give you a butt massage. (warning
about butt massage, though: If you're suffering from any neurological
problems related to pregnancy, it might make you more sore, making it
necessary to forego the massage. Unfortunately for me, I have
experienced this problem.)

Donna wrote:

Hey everyone!

My turn to ask for advice. I am having terrible back pain at night,
lately. I'm generally fine during the day, but at night, I get bad mid-back
and lower back pain, increasing until I get up again in the morning. It's
been waking me up multiple times each night. (Wouldn't you know, just when
my daughter started sleeping through the night again. grin) I have been
going to bed with a hot water bottle to my lower back, which helps to go to
sleep, but really, I'm fairly uncomfortable all night long. Any idea why
this would be, or what I could do? I'm 18 weeks along, iirc. And our
mattress is very firm, so it isn't a soft mattress thing.

All suggestions and advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Donna



Hi Donna,

I started having back pain in my 4th months with #1, and it
really worried me, since I could only imagine it getting worse
as my belly got bigger. In fact, it didn't. I think that some
of it was related to temporary shifting around of various body
parts (mine, not his), but the main things that helped we

-- getting exercise (particularly walking) on a regular basis
-- pelvic rocks (get down on all fours, arch your back like
a cat, then relax it -- all slowly and gently!)

My pain was mostly daytime, IIRC, but maybe these will help
for you, too.

Good luck, and know that it doesn't necessarily last all the
way to delivery!


--
Emily
mom to Toby 5/1/02
#2 EDD 7/19/04

"Emily" wrote in message
news:1y7_b.243400$U%5.1562043@attbi_s03...

I think that some
of it was related to temporary shifting around of various body
parts (mine, not his), but the main things that helped we

-- getting exercise (particularly walking) on a regular basis
-- pelvic rocks (get down on all fours, arch your back like
a cat, then relax it -- all slowly and gently!)

Thanks, Emily, and everyone else who offered advice to help me. I'll try
what you all have recommended, and hopefully that will help. At any rate,
only 5 months to go, at the worst.


Thanks again, everyone!

Donna