Cramping In Early Pregnancy

Cramping During Pregnancy

Cramping can be explained as pulling sensations that a pregnant woman feels on either or both sides of her abdomen. Even though cramping is not a symptom that can be used to detect an early pregnancy, yet, it is said to be a symptom that most pregnant women feel. Hence, it can be seen as a normal thing for pregnant ones.

Cramps during pregnancy causes

While cramping in early pregnancy could be scary sometime, especially for women who are carrying their first baby, yet, it is a common symptom that can be experienced through the trimesters. Cramping during pregnancy is all about the uterus responding to the changes that are happening to it. While it should be noted that the uterus is a muscle, and what a muscle does is to contract, so, the contraction is what looks like a cramp.

Pregnancy cramps, to some women, are the symptoms that they experience to know they are pregnant. It is the first sign they see when they are pregnant. And this happens when the egg that has been fertilized takes its place in the wall of the uterine, otherwise known as implantation cramping. When it happens, it feels as though a woman is about to begin her menstrual period.

Apart from when the uterus expands, thereby making the ligaments and the muscles that support the uterus to stretch leading to pregnancy cramps, other things that could lead to cramping in early pregnancy are constipation, gas and bloating and during sexual intercourse. Cramping during pregnancy may become more noticeable by a woman carrying a baby when she sneezes, coughs or changes her position.

When to worry about cramping during early pregnancy

While cramping in early pregnancy can be a normal thing and not worth fretting about, there are exceptional cases when such may have to worry when she experiences cramping. A situation where a pregnant woman experiences a severe pain which refuses to go away, then she may need to be worried about it.

Another situation is when she begins to feel abdominal pain in the lower part alongside contractions, or when she is experiencing a bleeding, discharge, becoming dizzy, or witnessing vaginal cramping, then she may have to call the doctor. Also, by the time the cramping during pregnancy comes with pain in her shoulder or around her neck, then she needs to call on her doctor.

When a pregnant woman begins to feel some back cramping or pain in her abdomen area, it could be a sign that she has kidney stones, gallbladder disease or even appendicitis. At that point, she needs to consult her doctor so as to know the next line of action.

Relief from normal cramping

However, when a woman experiences normal cramping in early pregnancy, there are a number of things she could do to handle the situation. She may try to change her position like sitting up or lying down. She may also try out some exercises that would enable her relax her body, or drink as much as possible plenty of fluids.

Sometimes, cramping is a sign that she is doing too much, or she is stressed. Taking a few minutes for herself can help both – body and mind relax.