My Left Butt Cheek...

[speedknitter]

...is killing me!!! Like i pulled a muscle or something but it is NOT getting better, just getting worse? It does not run all the way down my leg, but hurts like heck almost all the time, some positions are worse than others. I've tried "walking it out" and that does not seem to help. Fortunately, I can get into a comfortable position to sleep, but turning over is agonizing if I have to use my leg to push myself over. Any ideas? TIA,

[ctdoula]

Sounds like sciatica. The sciatic nerve runs from your back, through the muscle in your butt & down your leg. When the butt muscle gets tight it pinches the nerve & can hurt in the leg. Have you tried heat & massage? Have your partner massage the butt muscle. Whenever my sciatica acts up, I feel like I want someone to take a stick & just push it into my butt cheek LOL. HOpe that helps!

[speedknitter]

Is it OK to use a heating pad?

[proudmamanow]

I've been having hip pain from time to time that isn't quite so bad, but it has been keeping me up a bit! I've been using a hot water bottle on the worst affected hip and it seems to help! I'm also on the hunt for a prenatal massage practitioner...

[ctdoula]

Heating pad, hot water bottle, hot rocks, lava, whatever helps, LOL. Heating your butt is not gonna hurt the baby Once the muscles are nice & relaxed, try the massage.

[B'shert]

I had the same sciatic pain in my butt on one side. Luckily, my mother is a massage therapist and she massaged the heck out that area. You have to get someone to massage it quite hard to achieve any effect. In fact, your skin may be tender for a few days afterwards but that's a good thing. I'm sure heat beforehand will make it easier. I also think that the pain had something to do with the position of the baby. My pain was on the right side and I felt baby's movements way on the right side, as well. Now, his movements are closer to the center and the pain is gone.

[speedknitter]

Thanks for all the feedback...I got a heating pad that also does massage (basically, it vibrates), DH rubs it for me some, and hopefully next week I will be able to go get a "real" massage with our friend Sharon. The pain does come and go, sometimes it feels fine and other times it is just a really sharp shooting pain.

Funny, when I was at Target looking for a heating pad there was a very confused man there also, and after realizing he was looking for the same thing as me we got to talking, and his pregnant wife is suffering from the same thing! I think he was glad to hear that it's a pretty common problem.

[JoyAnne]

I had extreme pain in my sciatic nerve (same cheek!) and the chiropracter provided relief- it was heaven. I went five times. She re-aligned me and did progressively deep massage- my skin was tender but the relief was wonderful. I also took some tylenol, which helped a great deal. She taught me good stretches and advised 15 minutes hot, followed by 15 minutes cold.

That was the only part of my pregnancy that was really ucomfortable, almost unbearable at first- I couldn't stand up.

[speedknitter]

Update

Well, yesterday and last night "Penelope Pitsop" did some serious somersaulting, and now the pain is completely gone! I think it was the bowl of ice cream with strawberries and hot fudge that did the trick!

[fireflies~for~me]

Lurking from May...yep its on the left cheek for me too...I was thinking exercise would help but I've been having to come back from my walks because it hurts way too bad to keep going!!

I'm going to try the heat and massage!!!

[jjsexton]

Be sure to ice after heat

Hi Moms!

I'm new to the April Birth Club -- due with our first on 4/7 and planning a homebirth. I had/have this same sciatica pain and it really is miserable. I saw a prenatal massage therapist whose vigorous work alleviated most of the pain, and now I'm going to get some chiropractic adjustments. The massage therapist gave me some great advice on keeping it at bay:

1) Always ice after heat. The heat will make the muscles swell, which in turn can increase the pinching on the nerve that's causing that pain. Instead of ice, you can use a product called 'Biofreeze' which you can purchase online - it's like icy hot and works the same way as ice. I've been taking a warm bath every night, and now apply this afterwards each time (after I oil up my belly!)

2) Watch how you sleep. You're probably already on your side, but the position that won't inflame the sciatica is this: keep your bottom leg straight and only bend your upper leg. Support your upper leg completely from knee to foot on a bolster or pillows that keep it at *least* as high as your hip, parallel to the bed. If it angles downwards, that will pinch the nerve. Be sure to switch sides periodically -- I switch every time I wake up to pee, which ends up being every hour or so (ugh).

Also, I do lots of prenatal yoga, and my teacher is really good about telling us what poses NOT to do (such as forward bending, downward dog, etc) if you are among the lucky 'sciatica moms' as she calls us.

That said, the baby can indeed just move and alleviate all the pain by no longer pressing on the nerve, and I have heard stories of moms asking the babies to move off the painful spot and waking up with no more pain. But it sounds like the ice cream did the trick for you!

All the best, Jessica.