I Told Myself I Wouldn't Do This

A friend of mine spent nearly every week in the OBs office. She is a very worry-natured person. She always had something that she was concerned about. And now that her baby is here, her baby has been to the doc more than any other I know. She isn't quite a hypochondriac, but she is close. And proud of it. Hubby & I are often told stories about the terrible outcome of some other friend who didn't go to the doc at the drop of a hat. We are frequently cautioned that if we don't do the same, terrible things will happen.

I have learned to take this all with a grain of salt and make my normal decisions. I tend to fall somewhere in the middle. I am not opposed to going to the doc more than the normal amount if needed, but I'm not going to run in for every little thing. Luckily my mom is an RN and a call to her usually lets me know which way to go.

All that being said, I made a last minute appointment with my OB yesterday and in the end, I am glad I did! I figured they would tell me it was all normal and just to live with it, but that's not how it went. I felt silly, as though I was being like my friend, over reacting.

For the past week or so, I have been noticing that (this is going to get a bit TMI so feel free to skip) my pants and undies were riding up uncomfortably when I sat at work. I was figuring that maybe it was time for maternity underwear. It tried several different kinds, all with the same uncomfortable result. I tried wearing a dress and felt much better.

Over the holiday weekend, the uncomfortable sensations in my lady bits increased. I felt like I was bruised and swollen. We went shopping the day after Christmas and bought a stroller (more on that later). By the second store, I was totally worn out and hurting. The achy, bruised feeling had moved into my inner thighs so walking was less than pleasant.

The internet and my mom both felt that it was likely from the position of the baby. I did find one thing that mentioned an infection causing similar symptoms, but only one compared to the tons mentioning the baby's position.  So I waited to see if it would get better. By the time I got home from work on Tuesday, I was hurting a lot! So Wednesday morning I put in a call to the OB. I talked to a nurse around lunch time and they had me in by 3:30. She told me she was mostly bringing me in to calm my worries :) They are great!

After measuring my uterus, the midwife I was seeing pressed on the ligaments to see if I had pulled anything and sure enough it hurt. So somehow I pulled a ligament that supports the uterus. So from now on, I get to wear a super sexy pregnancy support belt. It is surprisingly comfy, but it makes my belly have a funny shape. Fin is also entertained by it. He seems to like punching it when I sit down. It is super cute.

The midwife also did an exam of the lady bits and she thinks I also have an infection. I'm still waiting for the results to know how to proceed there. But basically, it was not the baby's position at all.

I'm very glad I went. I'm trying to learn to trust my body, but its very hard. IF has taught me that my body fails me left and right, but it seems to be doing well with pregnancy. I need to remember to listen to it more and trust what it tells me. Maybe one day I will...