Health in Pregnancy

I went to the midwife today, one of the oh-so-exciting regular appointments to which you are subjected if you're pregnant. I've had comments like "good luck at the midwife" from friends and colleagues - what do they think is happening at these appointments? If your pregnancy is running normally, which most do, then these appointments are simply to confirm that all is well, and send you on your way. For me they've always been the same: submit small pot of pee for testing, have blood pressure taken (mine's always low, except for the one time the midwife was running really late and I was in a hurry to be elsewhere!), occasionally get weighed (depressing), and listen to the baby's heartbeat (always nice, although when you can feel the little wiggler getting her feet dug in under your ribs you don't need a heartbeat to confirm that the baby's alive and well). Oh, and the appointments are also good for a nice whinge about pregnancy symptoms - heartburn featured high on my list today, along with the strangely painful feeling that my right leg isn't quite as well connected to my body as it ought to be.

The appointment went really well in most senses: I passed all of the tests, which is always good, and the midwife gave me my Health in Pregnancy grant form. For the up the duff amongst you who have not yet heard of this, it is a thing of rare beauty - the UK Government is giving pregnant peeps £190 to stay healthy. This is great! Mine's going on an iPod Touch, which will keep me healthy mentally, if nothing else, while breastfeeding in the middle of the night. I shall be posting the form off tomorrow with great relish, can't wait to get my hands on the cash!

The downsides to the appointment were that the midwife is a rather boot-faced woman who never laughs at my jokes, and this depresses me. Also, I told her about the whole "my leg may be falling off" issue, and she said "ah yes, sciatica". At last, I thought, a piece of useful information from her. But no, I Googled it when I got home and it turns out that pregnancy is not linked to sciatica, and that it's actually to do with the relaxin that is released in your body when you're pregnant (which is what I told the blinkin' woman in the first place!). It's a hormone that enables your joints, especially those in your pelvis, to stretch wide enough to let the baby out. It can also make you prone to spraining your ankles (no jogging for me, what a shame...). Anyway, this can lead to something call Pelvis Girdle pain if your pelvic joints spread too far too early, which sounds like just what I have. Remind me not to bother asking her anything next time, I shall just go in and keep my mouth shut and rely on the web for everything else.