Sciatica doesn't seem like a real word to me. Every time I type it, I have to run spell check. But if the word doesn't seem real, the nerve itself is determined not to let me forget about it.
It started out as mild numbness - my leg would tingle and feel odd to the touch whenever I walked for longer than 15 minutes. Then, the numbness mixed with a burning feeling, like I'd slathered my left thigh in too much Icy Hot. Eventually, the aching pain kicked in. It happens while I walk, when I stand for too long, if I sit with my weight on my left side, and it's started to drive me batty.
A (very friendly) nurse from my doctor's office explained that the sciatic nerve often gets pinched in pregnancy, due to the expansion of veins (or is it arteries? or both? I can't remember ) during pregnancy, shifting alignment of the hips, and loosening of ligaments, and, she chirped, it usually goes away after the baby is born. I guess it's good that I won't have to deal with this for the rest of my life, but 18 more weeks of this does not sound at all pleasant. I can take Tylenol, but (at this point) the pain is more of a jack-in-the-box random surprise (oooh, when will it happen next?) than a constant ache, so it just doesn't make sense, and I'd rather not take any if I don't really have to. I can also use a heating pad, but in the summer heat wave we've been having, the mere mention of a heating pad makes me feel more miserable. After a few weeks of this, I went to see a prenatal masseuse that told me the baby is hanging out on my left side, grinding down on my nerve. Just one more thing I can use to guilt trip the baby when he/she is a snot-nosed fifteen-year-old missing curfew. The massage - during which the music playing was the scores for Lord of the Rings and Last of the Mohicans, neither of which seem like relaxing movies, what with all the battle scenes - did seem to help lessen the sciatica for now.
At least it's not bed rest. That's my new pregnancy mantra to put everything in to perspective. At least it's not bed rest, it's just tingly, burning throbbing in my left leg.
