The Bodily Woes of Pregnancy

It seems that once you become pregnant, all hell breaks loose in your body. Yes, there are the upped number of hormones making you even more emotionally unbalanced than was already happening just because of your shear womanness. There is the hyper-production of serotonin that sends your inner ear, brain, and stomach all out of whack. That's the lovely stuff that makes you sprint to the toilet and cling to the porcelin rim as if it were the last life preserver on the Titanic. Yes, there is the gassiness and the back pain and the disturbed sleep. We all know about this litany of woes. And I won't even begin the discussion of what my breasts have been through with pregnancy, breast-feeding, weaning, and pregnancy with no break in patterned cycle in sight for years...

But now, my second pregnancy in I'm learning about new ones. Like, what is this sudden shot of pain in my groin that makes my leg buckle beneath me? And WHY does it feel like my hip popped out of it's socket and somone is kicking my knee in at the same time? These are new and they HURT! Are you kidding me? This second one has happened on and off, but today it happened so painfully I was calculating the cost/benefits of a trip to the ER and picturing myself in some sort of hip-to-toe brace. So maybe that was a dramatic thought, but it was painful.

Nate talked me through waiting out the pain and letting it relax for a few minutes. Through his athletic knowledge of anatomy and sports medicine and my wicked Wikepedia skills, we have self-diagnosed that this is a problem with my iliotibial band. Usually reserved for runners, cyclists, and weight-lifters this gives lateral pain in the knee. However, there are those of us who are lucky enough in pregnancy to have this pain come on sharply and all the way from the hip through the knee and below where the it band attaches to the tibia. Excellent.

"ITBS can also occur where the IT band connects to the hip, though this is less likely as a sports injury. It commonly occurs during pregnancy, as the connective tissues loosen and the woman gains weight -- each process adding more pressure." -Wikepedia

I finally figured out why the arches of my feet have been cramping. I need more arch support because I'm increasing the weight and pressure on them. Now my I.T. band is sending me to the floor. Basically my body is rebelling against me getting "fat". I'm trying to tell it that this is only temporary and for a good cause!