Bloating, swelling, retention all over.
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nicolemviolette
Posts: 105 Member
I am now 31 weeks along. This past week I have noticed my hips/pelvis, thighs and legs hurting SO bad when I lay down to go to sleep and hurting especially bad when I wake up... to the point that I dont even wanna walk. I have also noticed that my thighs have been getting more chubby and my ankles are definitely swelling.
Today when I put my leggings, socks and boots on, it was a tight squeeze. And i had very big marks on my legs from them when I changed my clothes when I got home. Also, when I do my workouts lately, I cant fit my ankle weights on very good and they sometimes come un-velcro'd and fall right off, when they were very big on me before.
I drink about 8-10 cups of water a day although I do go over on my sodium more often that id like to.
Is it possible that im retaining fluid in my legs? Like not just my ankles but my thighs too? Id hope not because I exercise every day and I try to do my squats and lunges every day in hopes that my thighs wouldnt get bigger during my pregnancy.
Im asking for this advice because all of the websites ive read about this on all say that swelling during pregnancy occurs in the ankles, feet, hands and face. They never mention hips and thighs.
Today when I put my leggings, socks and boots on, it was a tight squeeze. And i had very big marks on my legs from them when I changed my clothes when I got home. Also, when I do my workouts lately, I cant fit my ankle weights on very good and they sometimes come un-velcro'd and fall right off, when they were very big on me before.
I drink about 8-10 cups of water a day although I do go over on my sodium more often that id like to.
Is it possible that im retaining fluid in my legs? Like not just my ankles but my thighs too? Id hope not because I exercise every day and I try to do my squats and lunges every day in hopes that my thighs wouldnt get bigger during my pregnancy.
Im asking for this advice because all of the websites ive read about this on all say that swelling during pregnancy occurs in the ankles, feet, hands and face. They never mention hips and thighs.
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Replies
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I haven't had any pain in my legs, but my thighs and calves have definitely got bigger. I find it a struggle to zip my boots up over leggings now. I'm nearly 38 weeks. I've also exercise throughout, as well as constantly being on the go looking after my 2 and 4 year old, and was working (as a teacher) up until 2.5 weeks ago.
I eat more than when I was losing weight, but I'm only eating at maintenance and rarely go over, and as most of my food is homemade, I don't think i have a lot of sodium. So I don't see how it can be fat, and I don't overdo sodium to cause water retention.
I know you have a third more fluid in your body in pregnancy, and I suppose it goes down into your legs! Plus you have to gain a bit of fat to protect the baby and help with breastfeeding.
I was ill a couple of weekends ago and spent pretty much the entire weekend in bed asleep, and I noticed when I got up my legs looked smaller. Maybe exercising actually makes it worse!
Anyway, you do lose a lot of fluid after a baby. I sweated loads for weeks after my previous 2 kids.0 -
It definitely sounds like water retention. It something that often just happens, but some things you can do to help it are eating cucumbers, swallow raw garlic, dandelion (root?) tea, and increase your water even more. For a non-pregnant person, you are supposed to divide your body weight in half to give you the number of ounces you should drink daily. I would increase that again by half for being pregnant. And sometimes, none of those things end up helping. I had awful swelling with my first, but hardly any with my second. Yet, after giving birth to the second, all the fluid relocated to my legs and they were super swollen and painful for about 2 weeks while I peed and sweated it all out.
You can also try a mag/cal supplement. I did the mag/cal and also the raw garlic. will be adding in lots of cucumbers as well with this pregnancy!
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8-10 cups sounds like too little water. When you're pregnant you should aim for 3-4 liters which is close to a gallon a day. My midwife recommended dandelion root tea for water retention. I've been drinking a cup a day this pregnancy and noticed I'm much less swollen than I was with my first pregnancy.0
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Eat watermelon, celery and strawberries. These help naturally shed water retention.
With my first, I did not have any water retention until about 2 days before due date. It came on suddenly - and everywhere! My whole body swelled and I jumped up a clothing size almost instantly - nothing on my body was left unswelled. It went away within a couple hours of giving birth though.0 -
Sorry if someone has already said it, but drink a ton more water and have some with fresh lemon juice squeezed in it every morning and every evening. It helps me a lot.0
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OK thanks for the advice guys! I will definitely try upping my water intake and eating some celery, cucumbers, etc.
& I really hope this comes off within a few hours of delivering my baby too!! I am SO uncomfortable like this!0 -
It'll probably take a few weeks to come off completely.... (sorry!)0
