2 Unexpected Things Your Body May Experience During Pregnancy

During pregnancy, your body will go through many changes, and some of these changes may come as a surprise to you. Here are two unexpected, yet normal changes you may experience during pregnancy.

Leg Pain

First, you may not expect to experience serious leg pain when you lay down or sit for long periods of time. Leg pain can come as a result of your hips widening and loosening for childbirth. 

Unfortunately, this can happen early on in pregnancy or during your second trimester. As your baby grows and your belly gets bigger, you may notice this symptom more. 

To cope with the pain that runs along your hips and outer thighs, try doing the following things:

• First, sleep with a pregnancy pillow or body pillow between your legs so that they are not stressed at all. Keeping your top leg elevated will help your spine to stay aligned, and your hips will also stay even while you sleep.
• Second, stretch your legs before and after you sleep. You can at least stretch out the muscles so that they do not tighten up when you sit, and while the pain may not go away completely, you can at least help it to feel less severe.

Abdominal and Ligament Pain

Next, you will also experience stretching and possibly pain in your lower and middle abdomen. This occurs when your uterus grows and causes the abs and ligaments to stretch out. They have to stretch to accommodate for the growing baby, so there is no way around this happening.

For some women, no pain comes at all. For others, however, round ligament pain can persist for several weeks as the baby grows. You should not notice this pain until your stomach starts to stretch and grow some, so you will at least go a few weeks without feeling anything.

This pain is unique and does not feel like other types of pain. The pain will typically rest on either side of your belly button or in the muscles right below. If you move quickly and stretch your stomach a little, you may feel the pain more in the ligaments as they are being stretched more than they are used to. You may even feel the pain when you sit up or lay down, because you still have to use your abs and ligaments to support your belly. To cope with the pain, you can get a belly band that will help hold your belly in place so that gravity does not pull on the muscles in a downward motion.

Do not be afraid if you experience either of these types of pain. Both are normal and should go away during or after pregnancy. If you have any questions, visit an obstetrician like George L Stankevych MD.