Sciatica

Sciatica (or sciatic neuritis) is a set of symptoms including pain that may be caused by general compression and/or irritation of one of five spinal nerve roots that give rise to each sciatic nerve, or by compression or irritation of the left or right or both sciatic nerves. The pain is felt in the lower back, buttock, and/or various parts of the leg and foot. In addition to pain, which is sometimes severe, there may be numbness, muscular weakness, pins and needles or tingling and difficulty in moving or controlling the leg. Typically, the symptoms are only felt on one side of the body.

Sciatica may also be experienced in pregnancy, primarily resulting from the uterus pressing on the sciatic nerve, and, secondarily, from the muscular tension and/or vertebral compression consequent to carrying the extra weight of the fetus, and the postural changes inherent to pregnancy. This may also carry on after the baby is born.

OH JOY to that last sentence. So guess who ended up in the emergency room last night? That's right, these two. Momma and baby are okay, no worries, but I am on bed rest today and have weight lifting limitations for the rest of my pregnancy.  I have had problems with my back before so I honestly wasn't that surprised when this flared up. Luckily our visit was short and sweet and efficient. I'm on a Tylenol and heat pack regimen and Bruce has set me up with the laptop in bed, so I'm not writhing in pain every time I need something (thank goodness he is home today!!!) I'm hoping some good ol' fashioned R&R will fix everything up real quick and we can go back to normal after the long weekend.