Ouch! My Hips!

The third trimester started off relatively easy like the second trimester. Then, the hip pain started. While it is true that I gained most of my weight during the second trimester, I know that the hormones moving my hips and joints around did not help matters. Some women suffer from similar hip pain, while others never experience it. I'm now at 35 weeks, and I can tell you, it gets WORSE, not BETTER for those who struggle. Here are a few things I found that helped with the hip pain:

Tylenol

To be honest, I would have loved to guzzle down two ibuprofens for the pain, but Tylenol does the trick when the pain is so bad I cannot sleep.

Pre-natal Massages

Pre-natal massages helped with the hip pain, although not initially. I would often have strong hip pain immediately following the massage and for a couple of days. Slowly the pain went away and was replaced by fully functioning hips!

Exercise

Exercise worked for me the same way the massages worked; at first the pain would be much worse, but would ease up within a couple of days. For me, the elliptical machine worked great as it was a lower impact exercise than walking.

Rest

At this point, exercise does not make the hip pain better and I'm holding out until closer to the due date to have another massage. I've found that with the more weight I put on and the more my joints stretch, the more pain I feel. It radiates from the hips down the legs and makes it hard to walk. I can tell by my hips when I need to get off my feet and rest. It's a balance, but resting has been one of the only ways to combat the pain most recently.