Sunny Gault
You have a growing belly. And with that, you may find that you have some pressure on your back. So what are some ways we can naturally help you and relieve that pressure? I'm Sunny with New Mommy Media. And today I'm joined by Cheryl Furer. She is a midwife. She's an educator, and she's also the founder of your thriving pregnancy. Hi, Cheryl. Thanks for being with us today.

Cheryl Furer
Hi, Sunny. I'm really grateful to be here today. Thank you.

Sunny Gault
So Cheryl, what point in pregnancy? Do moms typically start to feel this, this lovely back pain we're talking about?

Cheryl Furer
Yeah, it's often through about the second trimester, third trimester. So around 24 weeks, for some moms and then maybe 28 weeks, 30 weeks is more common. So it varies a little bit for everyone. But usually in the end of second trimester into the third trimester is when all of those muscles and ligaments really start feeling the pressure of your growing uterus.

Sunny Gault
That was going to be my next question is what is really happening in the body to cause this extra pressure? Obviously, you're growing a human being okay, but can you give us an idea of what is physically happening in the body?

Cheryl Furer
Sure. So your uterus is attached to what are called round ligament. So these are ligaments that attach to your pelvis in the front. And when our uterus is not pregnant, it's tucked right back in the pelvis, we go through our monthly menstrual cycles. And besides that, we don't notice it all that much. As you are growing a human as you mentioned, as your baby grows, your uterus gets larger and expands and moves your organs out of the way. And those little brown ligaments get very, very taunt and stretched. The muscles of your uterus are also attached to your back of your pelvis, and the extra weight in the front of your body pulls the lower part of your back, forward. And so it creates, we have a natural curve there, but it just creates a deeper curve. Plus, we have a hormone called relaxin in our body. And that starts later in pregnancy as well as you prepare to give birth and relax and really helps open up the joints so that you can give birth because the pelvis is a pretty sturdy bone. It's several bones, but it's pretty sturdy. And so relaxing is really needed in order to help the pelvis open and shape so that you can give birth. And as our bones get a little loosey goosey inside of us. They also can get out of alignment, they can really create a lot of discomfort during pregnancy. And I've seen some pretty severe cases of mamas that had bad back pain. And so I definitely go My heart goes out to those moms who are who are experiencing that. Yeah, I

Sunny Gault
remember with my last two kids, my last two were twins. And I had a really, really big belly as you can imagine getting towards the end of the second trimester. And I remember having one of those, like this, the cradles, right. I even think it was called something cradle. But it was it was for back support and everything just to help keep your body kind of a little bit more in alignment because like you said, it does kind of feel like it's going all over the place. So what are some natural ways that mom can moms can get relief, if they're starting to feel that back pain?

Cheryl Furer
Well, the one you mentioned, so a belly dance, that kind of belly support. And what that can really help do is sort of lift your uterus up a little bit. So it's not just so heavy in your pelvis and on your back. And so there's a ton of ones that are made specifically for pregnancy. But if you are looking for like a, you know, something kind of do it yourself. You can also just take a long strip of Muslim cough or, you know, some kind of not too stretchy, but sort of stretchy cloth. And, you know, just tie it around your lower half your, at your abdomen, excuse me, tie it up in the back, you can even bring it around the front. And that has been used by many, many women over 1000s of years to help relieve some of that back pain and pressure. Of course, I'd also I always suggest to my clients to find a good chiropractor, and there are lots of chiropractors. There's chiropractors who have extra certification in pregnancy and newborn care. And so you know, kind of doing a search doing a little bit of due diligence and looking for someone in your area or Getting a recommendation from your midwife or your doctor to ask them if they have a recommendation for a chiropractor in your area, that can be a great resource as well. I have seen it, do wonders, for sure. Also, if possible massage, again, just another wonderful way to support your body during pregnancy. We all need a little bit more touch in our lives and massage can help relieve those muscles that are being strained during your pregnancy as well.

Sunny Gault
And along those lines, what about heat or keeping the area cool? I don't know which one would even be better. But is that good or bad? Absolutely. So

Cheryl Furer
you don't want to put a hot pack on your abdomen on your uterus directly. But you could definitely use one on your lower back. You know, I do know some folks who really really love hot heating pads, I would kind of suggest maybe like level one or two, not three or four. But um, you can definitely use a heating pad and I would actually suggest trying heating and cooling and seeing which one works better for you because everyone is slightly different as to which one will provide relief. So there's definitely heating or cooling that can help.

Sunny Gault
Very good. Thank you so much, Cheryl, great information. Now if you guys would like to check out Cheryl's business, you can visit our website. It's yourthrivingpregnancy.com and which go to Cheryl's site, hop on over to our site, which is newmommymedia.com. We've got podcasts, we've got videos, blogs, everything you could possibly want. It's where real moms talk about real life.