Vaginal Heaviness or Pelvic Pressure During Pregnancy: Causes & Treatments

Pregnancy is far from a glamorous period for most women. Morning sickness, back aches, swelling, weight gain to the elephant feet. It is enough to make some women question the fairness of womanhood.

On the upside, it’s amazing how your body changes to accommodate another human being that is made up of half you and half your husband, then again there are less attractive sides to being pregnant that most people hardly talk about. One of them is pelvic pressure and vaginal heaviness.

This is when a woman feels pressure in the lower abdomen and the vagina, most pregnant women characterize this as “feeling like everything wants to drop out“.

Causes

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• During pregnancy, hormones called Relaxin and Progesterone are released in very high quantity, especially during the third trimester. The essence of this is to loosen the ligaments and blood vessels in the pelvis. Relaxin helps the pelvis become flexible and allows the baby to pass through during birth, and Progesterone helps the blood vessels to relax also, accommodating more blood flow to your pelvic area, vagina and vulva.
• Your blood volume increases by 50%, and this might make your pelvic area and vagina feel full and heavy. Your uterus is also adding its own pressure onto the vessels in your pelvis.
• The baby’s growing weight is also a cause. As the size of the baby grows, it causes the muscles of your pelvis to weaken. By the time you reach full term, your baby’s average weight is between 2.5-3.5 kilograms. This weight is pressing down into your pelvis, along with the weight of the placenta, cord and amniotic fluid. As your baby moves about also, it can create more pressure as ligaments become stretched. Because of the effects of Relaxin, those ligaments allow the uterus to sag down, adding to the pressure. Remember also, that the growing weight is a gradual process over the months, so you might have to endure the process.

Treatment

Vaginal and pelvic pressure can be felt at different stages of pregnancy. It is however very common during the last trimester. There is nothing that you can do to relieve this feeling except giving birth, but you can go through these steps and find one tip that might help relieve you.

1. Lying on your left side to encourage your baby to adjust position
2. Sitting with your feet elevated to improve circulation
3. Resting with your hips elevated on cushions
4. Warm baths
5. Wearing a pregnancy belt can help support the pelvis
6. Knee lifts to relieve stretching ligaments
7. Pelvic rocking or swaying
8. Sex can relieve the pressure caused by vaginal swelling
9. Gentle exercise such as swimming, water exercises, cycling or walking
10. Pelvic floor exercises to strengthen the muscles and support the area