Back sleeping.

[Nerdy]

Little bit of history: Hubby and I were involved in a pretty vicious car accident last October in which a kid driving an F150 rear ended our F250 going 65 MPH while we were at a stand still in traffic. They were texting and driving and the results were pretty catastrophic. Our truck was hit hard enough to be thrown forward a truck length into a Cadillac in front of us and then hit again from behind by the kid who failed to hit the brakes. So three collisions in a very short space of time. All vehicles involved were totaled, but everyone, including my son who was barely 8 months old at the time, were relatively ok. DS and the kid who hit us actually fared the best.

My back, however, is SHOT and pregnancy (plus SPD which is 1000xs worse than my last pregnancy) is making it so much worse. My left side is impossible to sleep on due to pain that runs from my spine to my knee and causes debilitating cramps whether I'm laying on my left or right sides - this is made much worse if I don't have a pillow between my knees, but is there regardless which makes for A LOT of tossing and turning and sleeplessness that keeps both myself and hubby up all night.

The only relief? Sleeping on my back. I keep my shoulders propped up because of TUMS resistant heartburn at night (looks like I'm having another kiddo with a wild mop of hair at birth! ) and I also keep a roll pillow between my knees... Kinda like laying in a hammock.

I'm going to bring this up to my OB this week when I see him, but I know I slept on my back A LOT with DS and never had an issue.

Anyone else? Any other ideas to help ease the pain?

 

[DaisyDreamer]

Ouch. That sounds like some serious pain. The only thing I know about are some stretches but from the sounds of things your body is still trying to recover from the accident. The pain seems like it is muscular dysfunction and that could also compress the nerves that run to your leg from the spine (indicative of knee pain).

I've attached a picture of a crescent stretch which should open up your side body. Just breathe and hold the stretch as long as you can, really sinking into it with each breath.

Also try adding some forward bends and gentle back bends, and twisting from the abdomen side to side. Really hope that you don't have any more problems! Pregnancy is painful enough without the added drama of old injuries

 

[Nerdy]

Ouch. That sounds like some serious pain. The only thing I know about are some stretches but from the sounds of things your body is still trying to recover from the accident. The pain seems like it is muscular dysfunction and that could also compress the nerves that run to your leg from the spine (indicative of knee pain).

I've attached a picture of a crescent stretch which should open up your side body. Just breathe and hold the stretch as long as you can, really sinking into it with each breath.

Also try adding some forward bends and gentle back bends, and twisting from the abdomen side to side. Really hope that you don't have any more problems! Pregnancy is painful enough without the added drama of old injuries

I'll definitely try everything and anything at this point! I went through months of physical therapy and I have a funny feeling I'm going to be told to go back to it during the remainder of my pregnancy. I also had one round of steroid injections to the lumbar spine and they seriously failed. Such misery. This accident has pretty much ruined my life

Thank you so much for the help and advice.

 

[mrs_sasquatch]

From what my OB has said, as long as you aren't completely flat, sleeping on your back is fine as long as you're comfortable. She suggested using multiple pillow and making sure yours shoulders are slightly elevated.

 

[DaisyDreamer]

Ouch. That sounds like some serious pain. The only thing I know about are some stretches but from the sounds of things your body is still trying to recover from the accident. The pain seems like it is muscular dysfunction and that could also compress the nerves that run to your leg from the spine (indicative of knee pain).

I've attached a picture of a crescent stretch which should open up your side body. Just breathe and hold the stretch as long as you can, really sinking into it with each breath.

Also try adding some forward bends and gentle back bends, and twisting from the abdomen side to side. Really hope that you don't have any more problems! Pregnancy is painful enough without the added drama of old injuries

I'll definitely try everything and anything at this point! I went through months of physical therapy and I have a funny feeling I'm going to be told to go back to it during the remainder of my pregnancy. I also had one round of steroid injections to the lumbar spine and they seriously failed. Such misery. This accident has pretty much ruined my life

Thank you so much for the help and advice.

I had meant to mention PT, ask if that was an option for you. No problem, never have I been in an accident (thankful!), but it's not for lack of hip and sacral-lumbar pain. I have been battling it for years! At first not enough muscle tone to keep my joints stable, then added weight of a blossoming bosom that resulted in a reduction in 2011 to fix pain! Was tilting hips/curving back to compensate weight.. Took 3 years of conscious posture correction and semi-regular yoga to fix my back... then I injured it in the same spot twice.....

This pregnancy has been loaded with back pain from trying to keep decent posture and keeping bad posture to support my belly. These are moves that I use everyday, I hope they help you lady~

 

[Nerdy]

From what my OB has said, as long as you aren't completely flat, sleeping on your back is fine as long as you're comfortable. She suggested using multiple pillow and making sure yours shoulders are slightly elevated.

That makes all the sense in the world. I definitely don't sleep flat, I'd snore like the love child of a freight train and 787 if I did LOL! And then, of course, there's the heartburn. I'll definitely keep up my weird hammock nest and chill unless I feel something wrong like short of breath or in pain etc etc. thank you!

 

[Nerdy]

Ouch. That sounds like some serious pain. The only thing I know about are some stretches but from the sounds of things your body is still trying to recover from the accident. The pain seems like it is muscular dysfunction and that could also compress the nerves that run to your leg from the spine (indicative of knee pain).

I've attached a picture of a crescent stretch which should open up your side body. Just breathe and hold the stretch as long as you can, really sinking into it with each breath.

Also try adding some forward bends and gentle back bends, and twisting from the abdomen side to side. Really hope that you don't have any more problems! Pregnancy is painful enough without the added drama of old injuries

I'll definitely try everything and anything at this point! I went through months of physical therapy and I have a funny feeling I'm going to be told to go back to it during the remainder of my pregnancy. I also had one round of steroid injections to the lumbar spine and they seriously failed. Such misery. This accident has pretty much ruined my life

Thank you so much for the help and advice.

I had meant to mention PT, ask if that was an option for you. No problem, never have I been in an accident (thankful!), but it's not for lack of hip and sacral-lumbar pain. I have been battling it for years! At first not enough muscle tone to keep my joints stable, then added weight of a blossoming bosom that resulted in a reduction in 2011 to fix pain! Was tilting hips/curving back to compensate weight.. Took 3 years of conscious posture correction and semi-regular yoga to fix my back... then I injured it in the same spot twice.....

This pregnancy has been loaded with back pain from trying to keep decent posture and keeping bad posture to support my belly. These are moves that I use everyday, I hope they help you lady~

Yeah I'm no stranger to back pain previously from car accidents and horse related accidents and having a DDD cup pre-pregnancy. BUT it was all managed pain that didn't bother me and didn't require medicating or anything super crazy. This? This is absolute HELL and I'd wake up feeling 90 pre-pregnancy. Doctors have veto'd all of my yoga, tai chi, free diving, horses, kung fu... Everything. I'm basically supposed to either wade around a pool or do other "low impact" things... Like walk. I'm a pretty active person who loves desert and mountain hikes etc etc... Needless to say this has really killed my spirits and now it's so much worse in pregnancy because of the way my spine is shifting etc. Herniated and bulging disks are everywhere in my cervical and lumbar spine complete with facet joint fluid leaks and a completely missing disk according to MRI reports. My neck no longer has a natural curve and has actually gone so straight it's starting to reverse curvature which leads to some interesting neck mobility and head carriage issues via "military neck". I guess the posture looks pretty, but it sure sucks.

Gonna go to a different PT guy and again ask about the yoga and tai chi... They made life so much more enjoyable and, to me, they're very low impact.

 

[DaisyDreamer]

Yeah I'm no stranger to back pain previously from car accidents and horse related accidents and having a DDD cup pre-pregnancy. BUT it was all managed pain that didn't bother me and didn't require medicating or anything super crazy. This? This is absolute HELL and I'd wake up feeling 90 pre-pregnancy. Doctors have veto'd all of my yoga, tai chi, free diving, horses, kung fu... Everything. I'm basically supposed to either wade around a pool or do other "low impact" things... Like walk. I'm a pretty active person who loves desert and mountain hikes etc etc... Needless to say this has really killed my spirits and now it's so much worse in pregnancy because of the way my spine is shifting etc. Herniated and bulging disks are everywhere in my cervical and lumbar spine complete with facet joint fluid leaks and a completely missing disk according to MRI reports. My neck no longer has a natural curve and has actually gone so straight it's starting to reverse curvature which leads to some interesting neck mobility and head carriage issues via "military neck". I guess the posture looks pretty, but it sure sucks.

Gonna go to a different PT guy and again ask about the yoga and tai chi... They made life so much more enjoyable and, to me, they're very low impact.

Jeeeeeez, that sure is something. Do you have any massage therapists in your area? DH trades a massage for 90 minutes landscaping for me whenever I need it. I feel in much better alignment after.
Also I have this foam cylinder that I roll my back on the ground. It relieves a lot of the pressure in between my vertebrae and helps with a lot of the pain I experience

Wish I could have kept the boobs but right now they're fairly reminiscent of how they used to look

 

[Nerdy]

Jeeeeeez, that sure is something. Do you have any massage therapists in your area? DH trades a massage for 90 minutes landscaping for me whenever I need it. I feel in much better alignment after.
Also I have this foam cylinder that I roll my back on the ground. It relieves a lot of the pressure in between my vertebrae and helps with a lot of the pain I experience

Wish I could have kept the boobs but right now they're fairly reminiscent of how they used to look

We have a few and the hospital I'm delivering at offers prenatal massage with OB approval so I'm going to talk to him on Thursday about it since insurance will cover it as long as he deems it necessary. Hubby will rub me down, but it's so not the same as a good deep tissue massage. I may have to look into the foam rollers. Really looking forward to getting back on a solid horse that will let me lay across their back, they're contoured in a way that just pops everything back into place and are so warm and comfy.

HAHA! I bet they are! Don't be surprised if they stay a little larger.

 

[DaisyDreamer]

Jeeeeeez, that sure is something. Do you have any massage therapists in your area? DH trades a massage for 90 minutes landscaping for me whenever I need it. I feel in much better alignment after.
Also I have this foam cylinder that I roll my back on the ground. It relieves a lot of the pressure in between my vertebrae and helps with a lot of the pain I experience

Wish I could have kept the boobs but right now they're fairly reminiscent of how they used to look

We have a few and the hospital I'm delivering at offers prenatal massage with OB approval so I'm going to talk to him on Thursday about it since insurance will cover it as long as he deems it necessary. Hubby will rub me down, but it's so not the same as a good deep tissue massage. I may have to look into the foam rollers. Really looking forward to getting back on a solid horse that will let me lay across their back, they're contoured in a way that just pops everything back into place and are so warm and comfy.

HAHA! I bet they are! Don't be surprised if they stay a little larger.

Horse laying, huh? That's a new one. I'll have to leaf that into my index. Hope everything goes ok for you! Meanwhile just try to relax and do some mindful stretching/breathing

 

[FeleciaPhelps]

At the time of pregnancy, while sleeping it creates a terrible problem due to the change in the shape and size of the woman. In this case, to avoid pain during sleeping woman need to use pregnancy pillow. The pillow will remain flexible according to your need.

 

[CVR1986]

I have a crap back....2 prolapsed discs. I am seeing a womens health physio therapist as my pain flared up again at 16 weeks. She gave me a few exercises to do against a wall.....lean against wall in a squat like position, slowly roll down, so imagine 1 vertebrae leaving contact with the wall at a time, then slowly rolling back up, side bends and pelvic thrusts. These couple with 2 or 3 pilates stretches are working wonders.
I get pain in my hips side sleeping and almost always wake on my back. If laying flat, the weight of the uterus reduces blood flow through the inferior vena cava, and can reduce flow to baby. As long as you are propped up with pillows you should be fine. I normally wake up as how my disc prolapses are, I get really bad pins and needles in my left hand when I sleep on my back.
In my first pregnany, my mw said as long as comfortable and getting sleep, sleep in whatever position you like.