Stomach hurts during pregnancy in the third trimester

2024 Author: James Gerald | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 14:00

During the period of bearing a baby, painful sensations can have a physiological basis, but sometimes they appear in a number of deviations from the norm. If the stomach hurts during pregnancy in the third trimester, then there is every reason for an unscheduled visit to the gynecologist.

Preparing the body for childbirth

The last trimester of pregnancy is a difficult period. The expectant mother is often under stress due to new, previously unknown sensations in her body. The body prepares for childbirth. During this period of pregnancy, periodic pains occur, as with menstruation, which can be short-lived, characterized by tingling sensations. Normally, they pass on their own.

If the pulling and stabbing sensations persist, contact your obstetrician. If the pain is intense, do not look for an answer to the question of what to do on your own, but immediately call an ambulance.

Common Causes of Third Trimester Abdominal Pain

Often, discomfort in the lower abdomen while carrying a baby is the norm and does not portend complications. When the time of labor approaches, the uterus increases in size.

The uterus puts quite serious pressure on the bladder, forcing the pregnant woman to go to the toilet regularly. In this situation, if you do not visit the restroom in a timely manner, pulling and stabbing pains appear, mainly in the lower abdomen and in the perineum. After urinating, all these discomfort usually disappears.

Often, the appearance of various pains in the lower abdomen during the third trimester of pregnancy, accompanied by a feeling of heaviness, is caused by overstrain of the abdominal muscles or uterine hypertonia.

With hypertonicity, the uterus becomes like a stone. This condition can lead to premature birth.

In the later stages, you should be careful, as you may not notice that the time for childbirth has come. When the pain sensations have become stronger, and over time, such soreness resembles labor pains, doctors recommend immediately following to the hospital.

Most women believe that if the mucous plug has not separated and there was no discharge of water, the birth is not soon. But it is not always the case. For many women in labor, the fetal bladder is pierced by a doctor in the prenatal ward or delivery room.

It is necessary to decide whether the pulling and stitching pains are false, or labor has already begun and requires prompt adoption of appropriate measures. Periodically repeated involuntary contractions of the uterus during the first pregnancy can be observed throughout the day.

Pain syndrome of non-obstetric etiology

Sometimes unpleasant sensations can be triggered by other reasons and have a completely non-obstetric or gynecological origin. This situation poses a threat to the baby and mother.

During the carrying of a child, chronic pathologies are sometimes exacerbated or new ones are acquired. For example, hormonal changes can trigger bloating. The enlargement of the uterus also leads to constipation and pain in the intestines.

As a result, the pregnant woman feels a feeling of fullness and pulling pain in the lower abdomen, mainly on the left side. In such cases, it is advisable to consult your gynecologist for nutritional correction.

The causes of pain in the abdomen can be pathologies of the urinary system. These include cystitis.

Surgical pathology, which can manifest itself at any stage of pregnancy and is also accompanied by a pulling pain in nature, cannot be ruled out. Intestinal obstruction, peritonitis can provoke such a symptom. These conditions are characterized by an acute onset, accompanied by weakness and fever. If these symptoms occur, urgent hospitalization and surgery are required.

Due to the increase in the size of the uterus, which exerts pressure on the peritoneal organs, as well as the ligaments that support it, the musculo-ligamentous apparatus is stretched. This provokes a shift in the pelvic organs and, as a result, discomfort in the lower abdomen.

Soreness in the lower abdomen is also explained by the divergence of the pelvic bones closer to childbirth.

Dangerous causes of pain

Emergency hospitalization and special therapy are carried out when signs of a threat of premature birth appear in the third trimester of pregnancy against the background of pathology.

Premature detachment of the placenta

This is a condition in which, even before the birth of the fetus, the normally located placenta separates from the uterine wall. There are 2 types of detachment - partial and complete.

Typical symptoms are cramping pains, uterine tone, bloody discharge. When symptoms appear that threaten intrauterine fetal death, see a doctor urgently. Timely therapy with partial placental abruption will stop bleeding and make it possible to fully bear the baby.

Complete detachment of the placenta is an indication for delivery regardless of the term, since heavy bleeding is a threat to a woman's life. The condition requires urgent help from doctors, obstetrician-gynecologist.

It is sometimes difficult to predict complications of childbirth. But experts recommend a day's rest to absolutely all pregnant women. You should also, if possible, refrain from experiences and stress at any time.

Hypertonia can be a consequence of various unfavorable factors. These are inflammatory processes of various pathologies, hormonal disorders, abortions, myomatous nodes of the uterus. Also, this can include leukocytosis, oligohydramnios and polyhydramnios, overweight, smoking, alcoholism.

Pain of a whining character

Aching pains in the lower abdomen can indicate many pathological conditions. Often they are a symptom of an exacerbation of gynecological pathology: adnexitis, salpingitis or salpingo-oophoritis.

Unpleasant sensations of a whining character in the lower abdomen indicate a growing cyst in the ovary, uterine fibroids, or other pathologies of the reproductive system. The lower abdomen sometimes aches due to placental abruption or abnormal attachment.

Pulling pains in the lower abdomen are characteristic of inflammation of the pelvic organs of an infectious and inflammatory etiology, appendicitis, a strong load of the uterus on the ligaments. Many of these conditions pose a serious threat to mother and child and therefore cannot be neglected.

Cutting pains

Such soreness in the abdominal cavity in pregnant women is a manifestation of constipation. During pregnancy, there may be an inflammatory process in various parts of the gastrointestinal tract.

There may be:

• pancreatitis;
• appendicitis;
• intestinal obstruction;
• dysbiosis and so on.

Pain in the left or right lower abdomen

Some pregnant women notice discomfort in a certain place, in the right or left side. Soreness in the right side indicates appendicitis or cholecystitis, inflammation in the right ovary or in the ureters. With the localization of pain in the left side, the doctor may suggest constipation or bloating (flatulence), an inflammatory process of the appendages on the right.

Soreness prevention

Prevention of pain in the last trimester is to avoid stress, overwork, physical overload. Walking with moderate activity is useful, which will help not to gain extra pounds and reduce the risk of soreness during pregnancy.

Outcomes

1. Pain in the third trimester of pregnancy can be due to both physiological reasons, as the uterus is preparing for childbirth, and pathological.
2. If the discomfort does not go away on its own, for example, after a change in body position, and cause severe discomfort, you must immediately call an ambulance.
3. If the deadline has not yet come, but minor pains appear, you can try to lie down and rest. Taking medications is undesirable and can only be prescribed by a specialist, if necessary.