Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Hip Pain

It might be kinda silly bringing this up now that I only have a few weeks left of this pregnancy, but anyone out there that had hip pain during pregnancy and have any good alleviating remedies they'd like to share? I didn't have any hip pain with Chloe...maybe had some soreness in my back with Linus, but with this one, from about 4-5 months on I've had popping, very sore hips. At first I thought I did something wrong, because it was right around the time that I had to be on bed rest, and so anytime I felt the pain, I would go lie down and try to rest it off. I found, however, that sometimes lying in bed too long made it worse, especially if I wasn't burying myself in pillows for body support. I know that it's common to have hip pain when when relaxin is released in the body and causes joints to be looser, particularly in the hips- I just want to know how to ease the pain so my body can keep up with my nesting! :-) I swept and mopped all our floors today, underneath the couches and toy area and bathrooms and everything...and now I can barely move! It's always a struggle when I wake up to use the bathroom at night and I have to sit in bed and debate for a while if the pain it will take to get out of bed and to the bathroom is worth releasing the pain in my bladder. Rolling over in bed is always a large chore. And most mornings, even when I'm taking it easy, I have to hobble around for a while before the pain when walking or standing is bearable enough to do a few things. I've tried Tylenol, and haven't used it enough to conclusively determine if it's working or not...and I tend to be the type of person that won't take a pill unless I have to, mostly because I think it's easy for me to become dependent on things, and I don't particularly like that. But like I said, the sweeping and mopping was just the beginning and if I don't do something about these hips, the rest of my house won't get much love for a while.
On a lighter note, discovered a few very handy things last night and today. Going out with the kids is much easier when I can lift, particularly Linus, into his carseat instead of forcefully verbally coaxing him in there and waiting impatiently as he touches every button and pocket hole and cup holder and light on his way into the carseat (sometimes a 5-10 minute ordeal). Time-outs have suddenly also regained their meaning in Linus's life as well (can you tell I have an active two year old boy?). Last night after he and Chloe had a tiff which ended in Chloe screaming at Linus and Linus in turn hitting Chloe in the face, Chloe moped her way to time-out without my help, as she usually does, but when Linus giggled madly and tried to make me chase him around the house like he frequently does when he knows he's in trouble, he was sorely disappointed when the chase ended abruptly and I stopped him mid-track and carried him myself to time-out. Also it was VERY refreshing to be able to push some of the couches (light ones) around myself and not have to wait for the evening when I have no energy for my husband to do it for me so I could clean this morning. I haven't swept or mopped under those couches for a while: I found about 15 lost lego pieces, a few fake food toys for the play kitchen, a very old and very dirty fruitsnack which Linus tried to eat before I stopped him, a lost Memory game card, a wide assortment of dead bugs (didn't know we had that big of a range of bugs living with us, good to know I guess...), a plastic coin for the toy cash register, 17 of the 26 alphabet puzzle pieces (still missing "O" unfortunately) and two animals from the farm puzzle, and a very large spider web with spider homeowner in tow (with his decaying food from the last few months) who unfortunately lost his home...and his life today (he was a big sucker too, I usually try not to kill bugs in my house if I don't have to, but judging from the large array of dead bugs in his web, it looks like he lived a comfortable life and didn't want for much, so I decided having a clean corner was more important than leaving his suite untouched). Just knowing that it is now clean under there has reduced my nesting stress significantly. My other projects include a full-frontal attack on the bathroom tubs and tile as well as cleaning out all the windowsills and vacuuming under as much furniture as I can. If I can get my hands on a carpet-cleaner, I might scrub down some of our carpets as well, but I'm not as concerned about that. Oh, also wiping down all the kids' toys. There is so much satisfaction in making one's home a clean place...
Okay, sitting here on this uncomfortable chair is aggrivating my hips again. Time to move on. :-)

3 comments:

Milmonster said...

I took a pregnancy exercise class with Audrey and my hip pain was minimal because of the exercises we did. I would try and explain them here but it may be better for you to just try and look them up yourself. Pelvic tilts and hip stretches worked the best for me. The best: lay on your back, bend one leg at the knee, place the ankle of the opposite leg on top of your knee. For more of a stretch grab the back of your thigh of your bent leg and pull towards you. Hmmmm, so good. Hope this works with your belly:)

The Coopers said...

I had really bad hip pain when I was pregnant. I did prenatal yoga and that helped a lot. I took a class and then I bought a DVD. I also got a leg pillow for between my legs at night and that helped a little too.

Candie said...

I have suffered with hip pain for years - pregnant or not. I can't give you a lot of relief suggestions other than a pillow between your knees (sounds like you may already do that), and maybe a heat pack on your hips. (or maybe alternate heat and cold) As far as exercise, most of what I did when I was pregnant made things worse, however I found Pilates to be easier on the body than yoga. Hang in there... you're almost done!