My Perfect Solution

If you are pregnant, planning on it or have been and know anything about painful joints or that nasty pinched sciatic nerve please hear me out. I am also recording this so I don't forget next time around.
SO my story is that I have really suffered this pregnancy and found myself spending almost every evening stretching on my family room floor during the day and before bed, or even after being on my feet for a while. The muscles in my lower back and hips would just seize right up and my sciatic nerve and muslces would ache and send a shooting pain down my left leg/side. I went to the chiropractor and received some valuable stretching tips but it only seemed to be temporary relief from this on going pain. I would constantly hit, rub do ANYTHING to numb the achy muscles on my lower left side.
I started to think, "okay, I just have to put up with this, and suffer until the baby comes." Your hips and joints make some serious changes over the course of a pregnancy/pregnancies. It really becomes so crucial to give your body what it needs because a baby will take everything it needs from you if you don't supply enough for the both of you.
Your body actually slows down in absorbing calcium after the age of 25. This being said you don't absorb and build strong bones the way you did prior and when you are pregnant and can't supply enough calcium in your diet or through supplements for your baby, it will get pulled from your supply, or rather your bones and given to the baby. One sign of this is nasty legs cramps. I suffered from those when pregnant with Brooklynn and I thought I was getting enough calcium through my diet, but I have almost doubled up this time around and haven't had to get out of the bed once to stretch out a nasty charlie horse! There is NOTHING fun about being woken up spontaneously with shooting pains down your leg, having to work/ stretch it out and then go back to sleep. IT SUCKS.
Another thing I came across this time around was fish oil. I took some with Brooklynn but I just started taking it regularly (every day) this pregnancy and it has almost made my sore joint issues vanish. The results were instantaneous. I am still a little sore in the lower back due to that extra weight but feel soo much better and I don't wake up sore on my left side, rely on constant stretching and massaging. The change has been astonishing. I have to admit I was pretty ignorant about this stuff and probably because I don't like anything fishy. I ended up, almost flukishly coming across some great and basic info through a friends blog. I learned some valuable tips (thanks Jen) through some discussion and simply reaffirmed why I needed to take these supplements. I always thought I would get enough Omega 3 through flax, eggs, etc but that type of Omega requires a conversion process and breakdown through certain enzymes. If you don't have enough enzymes to break it down, you don't get the benefits. As a family who lacks/ dislikes a lot of fish in our diets I figured I needed to step it up a notch and give this baby those precious omegas. Omega 3's in fish oil don't need to be broken down and your body uses them right away, they are also an anti inflammatory. Most proteins we eat build up a lot of acidity in our joints and fish oil can counter that. THUS being an answer and solution to my issues during pregnancy.
I basically want to conclude that I'm sharing this info/ research because I'm acknowledging how blessed I feel to have found this and felt prompted to make certain changes in my diet. So make sure you get lots of calcium, not just through milk but a good supplement you take with your meals and Fish oil. I purchased a brand from Norweigan Gold at Planet Organic. All I need is one a day and they have a great amount of DHA for me and baby.
If anyone finds this info valuable I'm so happy for that and if not, I'm recording it for myself to remember because this prego brain ain't what it used to be and I don't want to forget what has helped me so much this time around!