For all you ex-pregnant women. Did you ever get this feeling of trapped wind (but it wsn't) or... *something* creating a really hard, and I mean rock hard area just below your diaphragm in the middle of your lower chest / top of your abdomen?
On top of which I had really *awful* heartburn last night. We were playing Star Wars Monopoly (I was Darth Vader against Mackay's Luke Skywalker... surely I should have realised that fate would simply replay itself?) lying on the floor or leaning against sofas, and by the time we got half way through the second game, my heartburn was so bad I was grimacing with pain every few seconds. Why? Well it can't be sprog, he's not big enough. Sure, 6 inches, and a now uncomfortable rugby ball shape behind my navel but he's too low. I can only put it down to me eating too much wheat, which I know I shouldn't eat. Bit of a nuisance when we haven't been shopping for 2 weeks and I'm scraping around trying to find things to eat in the house.
Anyway, so I was a bit fed up yesterday. Slept like a log but woke up at 5, having had a dream in which I slept with Robbie williams (no, luckily no sex was involved thank God) but in the morning I couldn't remember whether the baby was supposed to be inside or outside me. We were scrambling around trying to find it in the bedclothes and in the back of my mind was a niggling doubt... youknow... I know this is wrong somehow...
Posted by cait at July 1, 2003 10:15 AM | TrackBackHeartburn - I remember it well. I suffered really badly from it for most of the 9mths. It was awful - used to wake me up from sleep, couldn't relax ever, ugh.
Go & buy Zantac. You can take them when pregnant and they get rid of it for 12 hours at a time. It revolutionised my pregnancy, shame I only discovered it 2 wks before I had him!
Other ways of minimising it is to try to cut out sugars and caffeine - both of which aggravate it.
Posted by: katie at July 2, 2003 04:36 PMAh, trouble is I've used Zantac too much before now. It seriously buggers up your stomach acid production, which I think might be one of the reasons I get it more than a regular person.
Here's the other thing, you didn't get it until really late. I've only come across one other person who got it intermittently throughout. It's very annoying! Ach well.
Posted by: cait at July 2, 2003 06:20 PMIt occurs to me you could actually have a stomach ulcer or a Hiatus (sp?) Hernia. I had one a few weeks ago (first time ever). It feels a bit heartburnish but also a nagging nasty pain which comes and goes - right at the bottom of you ribcage in the centre? They can be caused by / aggravated by stomach acid and are bloody painful. Stress can contribute too (pregnancy = stressful!). Mine hurt if I press on that area too. The DR gave me some Prevacid which neutralize stomach acid (work way better than zantac and for 24 hrs) but not sure if you can take them during pregnancy. Might be worth getting checked out though and although they can heal themselves, they often dont.
Posted by: katie at July 2, 2003 11:10 PMI reckon it's a hernia. there's bugger all you can do about them and apparently it might be an inherited weakness since my Mum in a very blase way informed me that she'd had problems all her life and so had her Mum. This after about four years of suffering!
The only time I *hyaven't* had heartburn at all was when I went completly "health nazi" for about 6 months, and ate absolutely no wheat, no dairy, no sugar and very little fruit. So I'm trying hard with the wheat / dairy thing (I never eat cow dairy, but I've been bad with wheat recently for obvious hunger related reasons, and I just don't eat sugar stuff, never have) but to be frank, whilst pregnant and presumably breast feeding also, I might just have to grin and bear it if I occasionally have to eat an egg sandwich whilst I'm out and about. I'd rather cope with the heartburn than fuck up my nutrition for sprog face.
God damn it, I'm such a bloody martyr! My body's so unutterably useless on occasion. Grrr.
Posted by: cait at July 3, 2003 12:04 PM