Help for my cousin.

[mama to 2 girls]

My cousin emailed me yesterday asking me if what she was feeling was normal, she is worried....

She said she is having pressure and pushing down on her cervix accompanied with contractions and cramps toward the front part of her uterus near her pubic bone and she gets stabbing pains in her vagina(which I had those also told her not to worry about those). She said the pushing down also makes her have to go to the bathroom and when she does she said he feels really low and she said she thinks that she sometimes feel his head move around a little. She said it isn't all the time....

She is worried because she is only 31 weeks....Has anyone had this happen at around this time? Is it more likely that she will go into labor a little early. This is her second pregnancy.

[Lousli]

Could be normal end of pregnancy stuff, but the crampiness and contractions...is she timing them? Is it constant? Change with hydration or rest? She might put in a call to her midwife or OB for some reassurance.

[sevenkids]

Sounds like it could be a UTI.

[koofie]

Sounds like what I am feeling occasionally when the baby is really low. This has been happening since 30 or 31 weeks. Usually I try to "pull" up my tummy, or figure out some other way to get him out of that position because it is impossible to do anything while I feel that pressure. If she can't get the feelings to stop at least some of the time, she might want to get checked out. Or if she feels something is wrong.

It may help labor along, but I am not sure since I am nit there yet and never had it w/ DD!

HTH!

[krismarie]

i'm pg with baby2 and almost 34 and have been feeling A LOT more pressure than i did with baby1. i think it's just my body changes from going through pg once already.

i guess if it stays the way it is, then it's probably just normal pressure with the second pg. if she is really worried, then she should go to her mw/dr...

[cfiddlinmama]

I've had preterm labor three times. With my last baby, I had serious cramping during most of the pg, but no dilation until 32 weeks.

The baby was extremely low and I was dilating. I could feel her head way down in my vagina. Lots and lots of pressure, dilation pain and stabbing in my vagina When they measured me, they couldn't even feel her head. They measured from the shoulder. I took some herbs, went on bedrest (with the foot of the bed raised) and tried to stay really hydrated. With the bed slanted, I was able to get her to slide back up a little bit and take some pressure off my cervix. I got up at 36 weeks. I had her at 38 weeks.

I would recommend she get it checked out and be aware of the signs of preterm labor. She won't necessarily deliver early, but it's really good to be aware. Sometimes preterm labor progresses really fast - too fast to stop. Better safe than sorry.

[mama to 2 girls]

Sheesh! It's just so hard to get online with a 2 1/2 yr. old and a 6 mos. old DEMANDING every free minute you have to yourself!! (sorry that was my little vent for the day! )

Thank you so much for your replies, I will tell her maybe she should talk to her m/w about it, but her m/w just seems to lax about some things. About a month ago she had contractions that she said were really uncomfortable and didn't go away easily, finally after 2 hrs. they did and she told her m/w at her next visit about it and she didn't say anything about it. Maybe it was nothing to be concerned about I don't know but it didn't sound normal to me.

Thanks again!