OK, so apparently this sciatica I have been experiencing is not sciatica.  Supposedly, a very small percentage of women ever actually experience sciatica during pregnancy.  What is most common is the pelvic girdle pain, which describes exactly what I have been experiencing.  Sciatica didn’t sound quite right, because I don’t have a burning sensation down my leg, but a shooting pain elsewhere.  I think I placed it on the list of things I am not going to miss after pregnancy: this pain that shoots in my butt cheek on the right side of my tail bone, sometimes down both sides if I have been really active.  Most times I cannot get up from a lying position by myself, or else I have to stop and let the catch get out, roll over on my side, or massage it out (which looks odd, seeing as how it is my butt cheek and all).  I only looked up the symptoms again because the last 3 days have been miserable!  No matter what position I am in, if I try to stand I cannot lift my right leg to walk once I am up, if I can even make it up… it usually takes a while.

It is also triggered when sitting on something soft, like a couch or the exercise ball (that everything suggest you use to position the baby for birth). The harder the seat, the better-and everyone wants to sit the pregnant woman in a soft chair!  In June we were at J.Tom’s parents and it was rather embarrassing when I could not get up off the couch for about 10 minutes, and then he had to help me to the bedroom and rub out the “catch” or pain.  Now, we are quite a site to see with his ruptured discs and me not being able to get in and out of the car/up and down from a seated position.  Oh yes, getting out of the car is terrible now.  What stinks even more is now my Yoga exercises are being affected-most of them require me to open my hips wide, which then triggers the pain. =(           <-----VERY sad face

I think tomorrow after the doctor, I am going to head to the chiropractor to see what he can do for me… I don’t know if he can reposition anything or not, but I have not been since I got pregnant and before pregnancy I was in there every 3 months or so.  That was mostly because running would get my body out of alignment and cause knee, hip, and back pain (which is normal-but what a relief after I saw the chiro!).  I think what most people don’t understand is: if they would do maintenance, such as see the chiropractor and get massages every few months, their body would be in better shape.  We are hard on out physical shells, you know? OK, enough preaching..

Anyways, you can see the pelvic girdle pain info here, so if you’re pregnant and experiencing this pain, maybe you can pin-point it to this.  It is only caused because of the expansion of your ass hips/pelvis in pregnancy- Thank You Pregnancy Horomone Relaxin!- so it should go away after delivery.

“The pain is often one-sided and may be concentrated in your buttocks (Sturesson et al 1997).
It can send shooting pains into your buttocks or down the back of your legs. You may also have pain in your hips. One or both of your legs may feel very weak and you may not be able to lift your legs, particularly when lying down (Mens et al 1999).  The pain is usually made worse by lying on your back, turning over in bed, walking and standing from a sitting position. It is often worse at night and the amount of night pain you feel will probably be related to how active you are during the day. Moving your legs apart, especially when sitting in a slumped position or lying down, can be painful. ” (and all of that is involved in Yoga)

YEP!  That’s me alright.  I sure am relieved to know it should go away after Lexie comes, though.  I just hope it is not present during labor and delivery, because I don’t know that I could handle the constant stabbing-I may cave then for an epidural.  At least labor pains are not constant…