Mons Pubis Pain (Maybe Tmi)

I had it with my second pregnancy and the doc referred to it as pelvic floor pain or some sort of ligament pain (can't remember what exactly, it was 10 years ago). I do remember it being on the left side of the pubis predominantly. He did say it would probably be happen with each subsequent pregnancy, since the ligaments never fully return to their original "shape" and to keep that in mind if we planned more children (which in our case we didn't)

The nurse practitioner at the office suggested getting a "pregnancy belt" thing to help support the weight of my stomach to ease the stress on my ligaments. It helped some, as did always holding my stomach when I shifted position (lying to sitting, sitting to standing, etc).

Hi! I second the posters who say this sounds like symphysis pubis dysfunction (SPD). It affects different women to different degrees. In my case, I had problems moving (walking, dressing, turning in bed etc.) during my pregnancy because of the pain. But the issue self-resolved after the preganancy. And I too had an all natural delivery sans drugs without experiencing the pain from SPD during delivery. I did not try the Chiropractic adjustments as no one told me about it then and not all chiropractors offer it, but it's worth a try. Good luck!

Sounds like what I had when I was pregnant last year. Here is a good article about it:

http://www.plus-size-pregnancy.org/pubicpain.htm

For me it started around 18 weeks, and I was very confused and my OB didn't know what it was. It was my yoga teacher that finally pointed out the potential issue and recommended a chiropractor Laura Sheehan in SF. After just 1 adjustment, the pain went away. She was totally my life-saver!! I went to her regularly during my pregnancy to make sure the alignment stays. Here is her website:

http://laurasheehan.com/

Good luck! It's not a major problem, just painful and inconvenient. It will go away. After adjustments mine stopped hurting and haven't bothered me since!

B.,
No worries, normal. Your pelvis is already spreading to accomodate a growing baby, this discomfort is due to the stretching of the soft tissues. The pubic area is more sensitive in general, and when tissues stretch the resulting inflammation causes more discomfort. I experienced the same pain throughout most of my pregnancy and into the first 2 months post-partum. I managed my symptoms with visits to my chiropractor, and balancing my pelvis really helped.
Best of luck and Congrats!

Hi B.,

Having heard these symptoms before, as a doula, it does sound like round ligament pain and/or pubic symphysis. Since I'm not an OB or chiropractor, I can't diagnose, but I'd highly suggest you go see a chiropractor who is experienced working with pregnant women.
The Webster technique can be highly helpful in realigning the pelvis and helping you feel much more comfortable!

Best to you,
H. W.
www.gotcontractions.com

Hi, sorry to hear of your pain.
I had a similar pain with my pregnancy: generally felt like I was kicked in the pubic bone. For me it came and went. It was worse after I had sat for a while (office job), but then I could walk it out. It also got worse after certain exerciese, or when I turned in bed.
I spoke to my OB about it, my pre-natal yoga instructor, and my pre-natal pilates (yes, I was trying to keep up my energy). The consensus was pubic symphysis.

The OB had nothing to say about it other than 'welcome to pregnancy, it happens.' To be fair, since the pain that I had was intermittent they were not concerned. If the pain had been continuous then there may have been more concern.

The deal with pubic symphysis is that the ligaments are stretching because of the relaxin in your system. I had it with my 1st pregnancy, maybe you are only encountering it with your 2nd since your ligaments have already been stretched out. Either way, the junction at the front of your pubic bone is not solid, but rather held together by ligaments (as is much of your pelvic girdle). It seems that sometimes when the bones are moved around the ligaments can stretch, and this can result in pain. The key here is stability.

Advice from my prenatal yoga and pilates instructors:
- when you get up from lying down, KEEP YOUR KNEES TOGETHER! Put a pillow in between them or something. Seriously - this was enormously helpful. A couple of other friends of mine who were pregnant also had this pain, and this simple caution helped them too.
- if you are exercising, be careful with motions that affect that area. I was specifically told to keep my feet closer together in triangle pose, and to not lift my leg in table-top pose (when on all fours, lifting opposing arm and leg). I also found that I had pain if I stretched my legs, pulling them too close to my chest. Strangely, squats were fine (though during labor I tried to squat and it felt like someone was tearing apart my spine). If exercising, let your instructor know of your pain! It is their job to ensure that you are not aggravating it. Give them feedback if anything hurts. One day I left the studio feeling great, but then by the time I got down the stairs to the street I had the most unbearable pain that I could not walk. You bet I spoke to the instructor the next time - I had no repeat occurrences (because of exercise) because we were careful.

Anyway, when I spoke to the OB, she said that true pubic symphysis is not common. But, 3 of my pregnant friends also had it to some degree... I had, at some point, found some website from the UK where they said that it is taken more seriously there and that many think that there could be some relief with a chiropractic technique called, the Werner Technique (or maybe Wagner... something like that). I thought about it, but decided not to go that route.

I had a natural vaginal childbirth, and have experienced no pain since. I am now 10 weeks postpartum and am starting to do some strengthening stretches and the like as after pregnancy my body was all out of alignment, and nursing and carrying around an increasingly heavy baby was not helping matters...

Please talk to your OB about the pain. It really sounds like pubic symphysis, though it could be something else.

Hi Bernandette,
I would definitely talk to your doctor and ask if you can see physical therapist. I had something similar and have been having problems since my baby. I see a PT and it seems to help. Good Luck!

Sounds like pelvic shear.

The pubic symphisis is affected by your pregnancy hormones and the connection can relax.

I couldn't even put my skivvies on by myself standing up, couldn't lift a foot if I was trying to balance on the other leg! I thought it was funny, but yes, it is painful.

there's some adjustment that a chiropractor can do, but mine was not trained and recommended I contact the state chiropractor association to find someone who could remedy it. My own OB said it would go away after I delivered.

So, I waited it out, and the OB was right. However, if it had been so bad that I could feel it laying down, I probably would have seen a chiropractor for it.

Good luck! And it did go away for me after delivery.

Actually, I disagree with the other posters. This does not sound like round ligament pain to me. Instead, it is likely due to the joints in the body become more lax during pregnancy. This is one of the things that will allow the baby to pass through the birth canal without getting stuck. You are feeling the pain in the mons pubis as your pubic symphysis, the joint between the two pubic bones loosens. This joint loosening phenomenon is also responsible for the expanding rib cage that will force you to get a new bra (or two) regardless of your changing breast size. In other words, not only will you change cup size, but you will also change bra size in inches. Round ligament pain is usually off to the side rather than the middle that you describe. I had it during pregnancy. I am currently 7 weeks postpartum and it has mostly resolved. Hope that this is helpful and offers you hope. Also, by all means talk to your doctor for confirmation. Congratulations and good luck with the pregnancy!

Sounds like round ligament pain (The ligaments that hold your uterus in place stretch with the pregnancy) Pay attention to how you move, get up, etc to ease strain on it.

I had the same pain with my second pregnancy and it got worse. They told me that it was just how the baby was laying in me. She was born almost 4 months ago and sometimes I still feel the pain. I think that she bruised me for life.

Hi B.,

I have the same pain going on, but I am not pregnant. The doctor did a cat scan because she thought I had kidney stones, but it didn't know any. She couldn't come up with anything so I am just here dealing with this pain. Mine is on both sides and travels upwards a little bit more than it sounds like yours is. But it is very hard to explain, besides it feels like it is bruised. If you find anything out, please let me know. Thanks.

With my second pregnancy I had a vein that became so enlarged that my outer Labia sagged down and throbbed. My doc was surprised. The Labia returned to normal size after pregnancy once the hormones changed. Gee I hope you don't have this situation.....it's kinda annoying.

Only responding because I had the problem too. For me it was varicose veins in that area, lots of pressure & bruised feeling. Using a pregnancy sling helped and not standing or sitting too long in one place helped too. They make a sling type support for labial varicose veins, but it was expensive and looked like I was going repelling down a cliff. My last pregnancy was twins so it was worse earlier on. But after delivery, the pressure was off and the feeling of being bruised and the varicose veins went away completely. I read some other posts about possible round ligament pain - I disagree because of your description, as well as pubic symphasis, as that was a different pain for me (I had both later in pregnancy, joy!).God bless & take care!
D.
D.

Its only going to get worse. :) Maybe you were lucky with your first? Or maybe the pubic bones are spreading more quickly easily this time because it is your second.
I constantly felt like I had a bowling ball putting my bones and ligaments in every direction. Oh the joys of pregnancy.
Always a good idea to check with the Dr. but the strange pains, twitches, and feeling of bone spreading will probably continue-- and often in the weirdest places. Just count your blessings that you didn't have to experience that particular pain with your first?
Good luck :)

When I hit 20 weeks, my whole pubic bone area hurt. I only had this with my 2nd child, not my first. It felt like I fell on a bike bar and it hurt all the way up to birth, getting worse as I got further along in my pregnancy. I couldn't roll over in bed or even hardly walk it hurt so bad. I'm now 6wks post partum and it took about 4wks after having her for the pain to go away. Of cours, I had her really fast and had NO pain drugs so that didn't help. My sister also had the pubic bone pain on her 2nd and 3rd child but not her first. I don't know if this is exactly what you're experiencing but if it is, hang in there - it's par for the course so said my doctor.

Hi,

As some other posters wrote, it sounds like round ligament pain. But I had problems with varicose veins in that area when I was pregnant. The doctor said it was due to increased blood flow. Mine was more in the vaginal area though. It was very painful at times, but more when I was sitting down (not lying down.) I had never had problems with this before and it went away as soon as I delivered.

A.

Don't worry! I just had my second child and had the same pain throughout the pregnancy...my doctor said it is totally normal, and it's just the pressure of the baby on your pubic bone. I didn't think it was possible so early in the pregnancy, but my pain started right around the same time as you. Staying off your feet as much as possible was the only advise my doctor offered.
Good luck with everything and congratulations!
G.

Had the same thing when I was pregnant - my OB/GYN thought it was probably pregnancy-related vericose veins even though I could not see anything that resembled a vericose vein. It often got worse when standing/sitting for long periods (blood pools down there with gravity) or if I tried to shut a low drawer with my foot. Oddly, it got better later in my pregnancy and completely went away after delivery. My impression is it is just one of those annoying pregnancy symptoms that some unlucky women get, and that there's not much you can do about it. My term for it was "achy crotch" (TMI right back!) Good luck!

There are lots of overlapping nerves that come together in that region. Back pathology and abdominal pathology can radiate to thegroin as well. The ilioinguinal nerve signals pain to the groin area, the mons and vulva. Chronic groin pain that does not reside by itself after pregnancy can be caused by an inguinial hernia. Stretch injury, pinching or infection of a nerve, or the dropping of the pelvic floor (that stretches the pudenal nerve)could be considered.
I had sciatic nerve pain down the butt and back of legs when I was pregnant. Hottubbing helped for me as it lifted the baby off the nerves. When all else failed, my husband rubbed Bengay down my rear and back of legs- that was a welcomed relief for me.
Since then, I learned that vitamin B12 helps nerve pain. B1 and B12 are especially important in Sciatic nerve pain. Vit E is especially important in nerve pain. Many vitamins cannot uptake without support from eachother. That's why it is better to try to get them from food sources (God put the synergistic vitamins together for you!)
b1 foods= romaine, raw sunflower seed,asparagus,tuna
b12=liver,snapper,chinook salmon,shrimp, L.F.yogurt
b1 needs b2, so b2 foods =liver,raw crimini mushroom,ygurt,spinach, romaine
Vit E- raw sunflower seeds, boiled mustard greens.
some one mentioned varicose veins , which are helped with vit A=raw carrot,romaine,raw bellpepper
Potassium regulates nerves. BEST food source, swiss chard, romaine, mushroom.
Lack of magnesium can activate and stress nerve function.good food=raw pumpkin seed,sesame seed,chinok salmon. Lastly, Chromium defeciecny causes nerve damage. Best foods for it are=romaine,raw onion,tomatoe

Hi B.,
I can feel your pain!! I believe it is called Pubic symphysis. I had it during my pregnancy from about the first trimester on. I am a very active person and couldn't even walk for exercise because the pain was so great. Besides that, I had no problems and had a healthy pregnancy and quick natural delivery. Prenatal yoga was helpful as well as light stretching.

I hope this help and I am more than happy to talk with you more. Of course every person is different so I certainly don't want to diagnose you. :) It just sounds very familiar. Best of luck with everything.

M.

B.,
I had something similar with our third child. From the 5th month on I had pressure and sometimes pain in that area. When we did the ultrasound he was head down. He stayed that way the rest of the pregnancy, or so we figure. When he was born, my bone was bruised from him being there for so long....and was was his forehead !! It went away in two days or so. My bruise never surfaced on the skin, but took a couple of weeks to feel better. No problems since, and he is 14 now. W.

It sounds like it maybe pubic symphysis separation. I had it after giving birth to my 1st baby and it was very painful, even to walk sometimes. If u have with one pregnancy u are highly likely to have it w/ every pregnancy. I had during my 2nd and it wasn't fun. U can do some physical therapy after the baby is born to try and help it and it will eventually fade away. Ask your dr. about it and look it up.

Same response of others round ligament.

Not sure what it is but I had it whn I was pregnant and it did go away.

It seems like it could be round ligament pain, and you can read something about it here:
http://www.babycenter.com/0_round-ligament-pain_205.bc

This is only a suggestion, of course. Your doctor should always eventually be the person to confirm it.