My hips hate me. That’s how I feel, anyway. I’ve struggled with hip issues off and on since December of 2010, and as you know that led to the decision to  take a break from running during my pregnancy, with the hopes that I can resume running after Penny Bazinga arrives.

But now I am again having hip issues, and this time they are pregnancy related. Since Saturday I’ve been waking up to bad hip pain throughout the night. It’s both sides, whichever I am laying on at the time, so I’m constantly waking up to roll over to the other side to alleviate the pain somewhat. My lower back is also stiff and sore, and I’ve noticed my sciatica acting up a couple times (though not badly so far, knock on wood!).

The pain goes away a couple hours after waking, after I’ve walked around a bit, but makes for a restless night’s sleep – and a tired Jen! I sleep with a pregnancy pillow (the Boppy – I love it) and we have our brand new mattress, so that is not the issue. I know it is completely normal this stage in pregnancy but it is still frustrating.

I will confess that I haven’t really been doing my piriformis stretches, so maybe that would help. I also found this article on the Fit Pregnancy website, which discusses ways to get your body back in alignment to help with back, shoulder, hip, etc., issues. It looks helpful, especially this stretch, which is one I should be doing for my piriformis syndrome anyway:

I’m going to try this stretch (and yes, I should add my other piriformis stretches as well), and will bring it up with my doctor at my next appointment (in two weeks) if I haven’t found relief by then. I’ll also ask my yoga instructor on Sunday if she has any stretches she recommends (not only is she trained in prenatal yoga but she’s also a mother of two young children, so she can relate). Hopefully I can find some relief soon – Jen need sleep!

Mamas and mamas-to-be: have you experienced this issue? What, if anything, worked for you?