Pubis Symphasis Diastasis (or really annoying pain every time I move)

I am definitely learning to listen to my body better. I honestly thought that I was pretty aware and was taking good care of myself. I still managed, however, to do something weird to the pelvic area of my body. It could be a strained ligament or muscle, or it could be related to the bone. This is known as Pubis Symphasis Diastasis. It happens when the pubic bone, which has cartilage in the middle, separates. If this is what it is, it's going to stick around until after I give birth. Yay. Fourteen more weeks of pain every time I get up from sitting down, turn over in bed, or sometimes when I walk.

This is a common complaint during pregnancy. Everything gets a little more relaxed to prepare for the baby to come out, and so you are more likely to overstretch or strain something. This is something I was aware of, having gone through a Prenatal yoga certification, but I still managed to injure myself. I'm not sure exactly how it happened. My pain started the day after Thanksgiving, and I had done a prenatal yoga DVD the day before. It is designed for pregnant women but is still pretty intense, so I'm thinking I just moved in or out of a pose in a weird way, or overstretched. I realize now that the situation was made worse in my Thai Massage workshop the next week end. They did some stuff on me that I wasn't entirely comfortable with, and that is normally contraindicated for pregnancy. There were some things we avoided, and the teacher kept checking in to see how I felt, but I think some of what we did was just too much for me. I have spent my entire pregnancy being so cautious, and I decided that I didn't want to be so paranoid and I could stop if I felt any pain. I thought it was okay. I didn't feel alot of pain during class but I did notice that I was more sore when I got home and now I know that it exacerbated the injury.

I didn't realize it was an injury until a couple of days ago. I just thought it was the ligaments stretching, and I didn't want to complain about every little thing. I finally stopped and really thought about it, and realized what it was. I've been kind of mad at myself over the last couple of days. Why did I ingore what my body was telling me? I felt like a failure, and like a bad mom already. I know that is a little dramatic, but it was just something that came up for me that I had to work through. So now I know that I need to slow down, but it's not like I was out running marathons. I thought I was taking good care of myself, and I was exercising so that my baby and I could stay healthy and I could prepare for birth. My best exercise option at this point is walking at a moderate pace, and I will just have to be okay with that. Sometimes it's hard to be okay with slowing down. We feel like we have to keep pushing, and that if we relax then we aren't accomplishing enough. Well, at this point I know that my job is to take it easy, and nurture myself and my baby girl. So I will do what physical activity I can, and then chill out. I want to do more meditation, and I'm really looking forward to starting Hypnobirthing. I am thankful to my body for telling me it's time to slow down, and for growing this healthy little baby. I want to treat it right and realize that I am limited right now and that's okay.