Q for those who had a lot of swelling during pregnancy

[ProfessorChaos]

I had incredible amounts of swelling during my pregnancy--ten days after the birth I had lost 50 pounds, and I'm not a very big person. I was so miserable that all I could do at the end was lie around and cry. I could barely move my ankles, and not even my socks fit. Even though my birth was also rough, it's that swelling that makes me scared to ever get pregnant again.

So, for those who had a lot of swelling, was it the same in every pregnancy? Did you ever find anything that helped? Lying with legs up the wall was the only way I could get relief, but then I ended up with a posterior baby, which led to the bad birth, and etc.

TIA!

[lazyreader]

My first I had typical swelling at the end of 3rd tri.
1) (I'm no medical professional but) I do not know if I believe that a baby was posterior due to a mom laying down.
2) compression socks (or body compression wear), exercise, and swimming (not lounging or floating) was immensely helpful for me to reduce swelling.

[ProfessorChaos]

Jul 5, 2015 16:32:11 GMT -5 lazyreader said:

My first I had typical swelling at the end of 3rd tri.
1) (I'm no medical professional but) I do not know if I believe that a baby was posterior due to a mom laying down.

I'm not sure I believe it, either, but the Spinning Babies folks would say that a lot of lying on your back causes baby's heavy back to fall to your spine. Of course, they also said that doing their exercises would cause the baby to spin back around, and that turned out to be a bunch of BS! For me, any way...

[London]

FTM here so I cannot compare across pregnancies. However, I've had tons of swelling over the past months. When things get really bad, slowly easing myself into a cold bath helps the most. I drink a ton of water, and trying avoiding salt when I can. Lastly, I stopped wearing sandals. All the water retention in my feet made them super sensitive and I am more comfortable in runners/ flats, which also helped a bit with swelling.

[ruemorgan]

The last 3 weeks i gained 10lbs each week, i assume from the swelling and after giving birth i lost 50 lbs immediately. I never found any relief. My shoes didnt fit, i couldnt even loosen the shoe laces on my shoes because then i couldnt tie them. My only piece of advice for shoes is that at walmart i found black slippers that looked like ballet flats and wore them with black socks. No one ever caught on the fact that they were slippers until i told them. Swelling sucks.

[laurasuzanne2006]

It was very bad first time and I ended up with pre e. Completely different this time. I basically have no swelling at this point whereas I was already very puffy at this point last pregnancy

[anonymouseliza]

Jul 5, 2015 16:03:18 GMT -5 ProfessorChaos said:

I had incredible amounts of swelling during my pregnancy--ten days after the birth I had lost 50 pounds, and I'm not a very big person. I was so miserable that all I could do at the end was lie around and cry. I could barely move my ankles, and not even my socks fit. Even though my birth was also rough, it's that swelling that makes me scared to ever get pregnant again.

So, for those who had a lot of swelling, was it the same in every pregnancy? Did you ever find anything that helped? Lying with legs up the wall was the only way I could get relief, but then I ended up with a posterior baby, which led to the bad birth, and etc.

TIA!

I had a lot of swelling last time and it's showing up again. I also had higher bp for much of the pregnancy ending in pre-eclampsia.  Not to worry you - I am predisposed through a lot of factors.  My mother also had a lot of swelling in her pregnancies (and zero BP issues), to the point of having to go out of work.

For me, it was important last time to get up and move throughout the day, to prop my feet up as much as possible. I tried compression socks for awhile and they helped too. Drinking tons of clear fluids was important, not wearing restricting things (jewelry, clothes, shoes). I also found massage helped to move fluid as well and that has helped keep the swelling down this time so far.

[Deleted]

Just to give perspective for comparing between pregnancies...

With DS1, I had a good deal of swelling in 3rd tri. So bad I couldn't stand for very long at all & had to sit with my feet up in the recliner with a pillow raising them up higher.

With DS2, I didn't get much swelling. Outside of having to take off my wedding ring, it wasn't bad. At least, nothing that I can remember. possibly related, though, was the Carpel Tunnel I had. I got wrist braces to help.

So far with this one, I am feeling some swelling coming on in these last couple weeks, which is earlier than I have felt before, but it isn't constant or daily. More so towards the end of the day when it does come on. I feel it in my fingers & the most, but occasionally into my legs & shins areas.

So this is going to vary from one person to the next & even from one pregnancy to the next. I'm really not sure of baby position on DS1 or this one, but DS2 sat VERY low on me most of the time. He gave me a lot of back & hip pain from being nestled down so far.

Edit to add:  No history of BP issues whilst pregnant or not pregnant.

[ProfessorChaos]

Jul 5, 2015 20:49:12 GMT -5 ruemorgan said:

The last 3 weeks i gained 10lbs each week, i assume from the swelling and after giving birth i lost 50 lbs immediately. I never found any relief. My shoes didnt fit, i couldnt even loosen the shoe laces on my shoes because then i couldnt tie them. My only piece of advice for shoes is that at walmart i found black slippers that looked like ballet flats and wore them with black socks. No one ever caught on the fact that they were slippers until i told them. Swelling sucks.

I went to DSW and bought stretchy old lady shoes two sizes bigger than normal. By the end even they were tight! I'm glad to report my normal shoes fit again about a month after birth.

[ProfessorChaos]

Jul 5, 2015 20:56:24 GMT -5 laurasuzanne2006 said:

It was very bad first time and I ended up with pre e. Completely different this time. I basically have no swelling at this point whereas I was already very puffy at this point last pregnancy

Glad to hear it's better for you!

[ProfessorChaos]

Jul 6, 2015 10:01:43 GMT -5 anonymouseliza said:

Jul 5, 2015 16:03:18 GMT -5 ProfessorChaos said:

I had incredible amounts of swelling during my pregnancy--ten days after the birth I had lost 50 pounds, and I'm not a very big person. I was so miserable that all I could do at the end was lie around and cry. I could barely move my ankles, and not even my socks fit. Even though my birth was also rough, it's that swelling that makes me scared to ever get pregnant again.

So, for those who had a lot of swelling, was it the same in every pregnancy? Did you ever find anything that helped? Lying with legs up the wall was the only way I could get relief, but then I ended up with a posterior baby, which led to the bad birth, and etc.

TIA!

I had a lot of swelling last time and it's showing up again. I also had higher bp for much of the pregnancy ending in pre-eclampsia.  Not to worry you - I am predisposed through a lot of factors.  My mother also had a lot of swelling in her pregnancies (and zero BP issues), to the point of having to go out of work.

For me, it was important last time to get up and move throughout the day, to prop my feet up as much as possible. I tried compression socks for awhile and they helped too. Drinking tons of clear fluids was important, not wearing restricting things (jewelry, clothes, shoes). I also found massage helped to move fluid as well and that has helped keep the swelling down this time so far.

I never had any pre e symptoms outside of swelling. Didn't try massage or the sticks. Taking notes for next time!

[ProfessorChaos]

Jul 6, 2015 10:10:14 GMT -5 @jen4033 said:

Just to give perspective for comparing between pregnancies...

With DS1, I had a good deal of swelling in 3rd tri. So bad I couldn't stand for very long at all & had to sit with my feet up in the recliner with a pillow raising them up higher.

With DS2, I didn't get much swelling. Outside of having to take off my wedding ring, it wasn't bad. At least, nothing that I can remember. possibly related, though, was the Carpel Tunnel I had. I got wrist braces to help.

So far with this one, I am feeling some swelling coming on in these last couple weeks, which is earlier than I have felt before, but it isn't constant or daily. More so towards the end of the day when it does come on. I feel it in my fingers & the most, but occasionally into my legs & shins areas.

So this is going to vary from one person to the next & even from one pregnancy to the next. I'm really not sure of baby position on DS1 or this one, but DS2 sat VERY low on me most of the time. He gave me a lot of back & hip pain from being nestled down so far.

Edit to add:  No history of BP issues whilst pregnant or not pregnant.

Sorry to hear the swelling is starting soon for you, and that you traded it in for other problems with #2. I forgot about the carpal tunnel - must've blocked it out. My hands went numb and feeling didn't return for almost six weeks. That sucked, too!

[Deleted]

Jul 8, 2015 6:13:20 GMT -5 ProfessorChaos said:

Jul 6, 2015 10:10:14 GMT -5 @jen4033 said:

Just to give perspective for comparing between pregnancies...

With DS1, I had a good deal of swelling in 3rd tri. So bad I couldn't stand for very long at all & had to sit with my feet up in the recliner with a pillow raising them up higher.

With DS2, I didn't get much swelling. Outside of having to take off my wedding ring, it wasn't bad. At least, nothing that I can remember. possibly related, though, was the Carpel Tunnel I had. I got wrist braces to help.

So far with this one, I am feeling some swelling coming on in these last couple weeks, which is earlier than I have felt before, but it isn't constant or daily. More so towards the end of the day when it does come on. I feel it in my fingers & the most, but occasionally into my legs & shins areas.

So this is going to vary from one person to the next & even from one pregnancy to the next. I'm really not sure of baby position on DS1 or this one, but DS2 sat VERY low on me most of the time. He gave me a lot of back & hip pain from being nestled down so far.

Edit to add:  No history of BP issues whilst pregnant or not pregnant.

Sorry to hear the swelling is starting soon for you, and that you traded it in for other problems with #2. I forgot about the carpal tunnel - must've blocked it out. My hands went numb and feeling didn't return for almost six weeks. That sucked, too!

My pregnancy mantra to help me through: It is only temporary... It is only temporary... It is only temporary... It is only temporary... It is only temporary... It is only temporary... It is only temporary... It is only temporary...

[pmcd886]

With DS1 I had terrible swelling in my feet. I couldn't wear any kind of shoes besides those athletic sandals that have the large strap over the top and velcro. They weren't even mine they were my husband's and I had to leave the velcro as loose as it would go without coming undone. It was AWFUL! Nothing helped and my feet, and lower legs, hurt all the time.

With DS2 very minimal "normal" swelling and I could wear most of my regular shoes comfortably.

I am now just shy of 36 weeks pregnant with our 3rd and my feet are doing great again. My hands are the ones swelling, but still nothing compared to how my feet got with DS1.

[icequeen]

The swelling with DD was awful everywhere, starting around week 25. I am also very small and it was so uncomfortable and I cried almost every day. I woke up ok but within 5 minutes of walking around my legs swelled up to twice as big as they were before. It helped me to prop my feet up while sleeping and elevate them at my desk at work. It looked absolutely ridiculous but I had to do it. I also drank more lemon, because it is a natural diuretic, and significantly reduced all salty foods. Compression socks were ok for the first weeks I had the swelling, but after 30 weeks or so, they just made me feel like an encased sausage. DH massaged my feet every day, otherwise I did it when I could too. I really hope you get some relief but I know it's not likely to ease up too much until a week or so after birth.

[Deleted]

Prop your feet up every chance you get and drink lots of water. This never helped me much (think hobbit pregno-cankles) but it does work for other women. I carry super low and this does contribute.