Surprisingly, those excruciating leg cramps that have you waking up in the middle of the night clutching your calves are caused by your back. To compensate for supporting the increasing load in the front, the curvature of the spine changes during pregnancy so that the lower portion of the back is pushed forward. This posture frequently pinches the motor nerve which runs from the spine down the leg — and that pinching is what causes leg cramps, according to Dr. Mark Taslimi, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Lucille Packard Children's Hospital in Palo Alto, California. Prenatal yoga or any gentle stretching of the back and hips may help ease the pain.
This new pregnancy symptom is not as bad as being sick to my stomach all the time, but I am definitely not a fan. About a week ago, I woke up in the middle of the night with a terrible cramp in the back of my right leg, just below the knee. I jumped out of bed, and walked around the room for a minute, and it felt better.
Last night, however, it was in the same spot, but on the left leg. It hurt much worse, and I actually started screaming something (I can't remember exactly what) that woke Kevin up, and he actually had enough good sense to help me strech my leg and massage it. I can't believe how much common sense he had in the middle of the night, especially when all that I could think about was the pain. It felt like I was going to have to cut my leg off. In fact, the muscle is still a bit sore now.
I have done some reading about leg cramps during pregnancy this morning, and it seems like they will only get worse, unless I start doing something about it. I already drink way more than 64 oz of water/milk/tea each day, so I don't think that is the problem. I hereby resolve to start doing some leg streches each night before bed, and to talk a walk around the block with Kevin after dinner every day. He doesn't know about the walking yet, but it'll be good for him, too. We'll just have to bundle up since it is cold outside.
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