Tightening of Baby Belly

The first time I experienced tightening in my abdominal area I thought the worst and that something might be wrong and I was cramping. I called the doctor and he said that it was normal and this was due to my ligaments stretching as my uterus began to expand. If I remember the doctor referred to it as round ligament pain. Later in my pregnancy I had a lot abdominal pain mainly because of the horrible gas I was having which wasn’t fun at all.

Near the end of my pregnancy I did experience Braxton Hicks contractions which is another major factor to tightening and feeling like your belly is hard.

Really only thing I can say on this is that it’s normal to feel tightening in the abdominal area but if you feel like it might be something more serious consult your doctor

-E
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I didn't feel much tightening in my baby belly till around 35-36 weeks pregnant. I too thought there was something extremely wrong. It got to the point where I could hardly move and hardly walk. Dean & I went to the hospital only for them to completely avoid telling me what was wrong and had me hooked up to the monitor for 2.5hrs.

When I went to visit my OGBYN not to long after my visit I explained the pains I was having. He could see the concerned look on my face. I was relieved to find out that the tightening and pain I was experiencing was only my baby girl lowering her head into my pelvis getting ready to be born. He explained that the pain was because you have two bones on each side of your pelvis, once a baby is engaging, those bones get pressure put on them because of the babies head and start to slowly move apart.

I was relieved when he told me and once she was fully engaged, or at least to my knowledge, the pain went away and I had a very low dropped belly

-X
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I was told early on that your belly stays small during your first pregnancy and it takes much longer to show you're pregnant. Wrong! My belly began to stretch and grow super fast. Toward the end of my first trimester, I could feel how tight it was getting. The skin would feel tight and itch, the belly itself would be so hard. I honestly felt like I could feel the muscles themselves stretching!

I had a great deal of odd little pains, cramps, and aches. Sometimes I would feel a sharp stabbing pain, then it would shift to a dull ache all over. I spent days on the internet researching and told myself "it's just round ligament pain." I was having such odd sensations that I did bring it up to my OB/GYN and she was not concerned in the slightest and said it's normal!

6 months later and I can still feel so much stretching and adjusting from my lower pelvis right up to my ribs.  I've noticed now that the yoga I've been doing and the extra little stretches when I'm uncomfortable accompanied with lots of water has helped tremendously. My belly still fluctuates between being super round and hard and tight to a little more relaxed and soft to the touch.

-K