Hilary Duff will soon be welcoming her third child into the world. But even if her expiration date is about two weeks past, it may not be soon enough.
This is because, as the ‘Younger’ star explained during an interview on Friday ‘The Ellen DeGeneres Show’, she is currently suffering from one real painful side effect of pregnancy – a condition commonly referred to as ‘lightning’.
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Duff opens up about the ailment when host Brooke Baldwin asks her how she feels.
“I did not have it with the other children,” the 33-year-old explained of the intimate pain. “I was texting my midwife the other day and was like, ‘What’s up with the stabbing pains in my vagina ?! ‘… It feels awful, like you’re hit by lightning. ‘
She was amazed at her midwife’s nonchalant response.
“She just wrote back, and she was like, ‘Oh, lightning cross’ – as if it was no big deal,” Duff continued as Baldwin grimaced on the subject. “I was like, ‘It’s quite traumatic. ‘Like, it’s just going to strike and all of a sudden you double. And then it’s gone. ‘
Duff explained, “The term is called lightning, it’s the baby getting ready for birth, sagging, so you can really breathe and … fill your lungs with air, which I haven’t been able to do for months,” she said. “But you get stabbing pains.”
While Duff retains her humor about the sensation, the pain she and other mothers face is no joke.
According to dr. Christine Greves, an OB-GYN of the council at Winnie Palmer Hospital for Women and Babies in Orlando, Florida, refers to ‘lightning bolt’ to ‘a very painful feeling like just an electric bolt, rope or something in the vagina or in the pelvis during pregnancy … Some have described it as a feeling of a knife, because it is so sharp of feeling. And many people just called it a lightning bolt because it sometimes feels like a lightning rod. “
Greves told parents TODAY: “There is no medical term, but there are only theories about this, but because it is a sharp pain, the thought that the baby may have an area where there is a nerve is affected. Maybe the baby is kicking it, maybe the baby is moving in a certain area where it is touching that nerve that is extra sensitive.
‘Usually it happens a little later in the pregnancies when the baby is bigger, to be able to feel it. … It usually does not happen in the first trimester, but again, there is not really medical literature. to be able to name when exactly it is going to happen, the exact cause and everything. ‘
Not everyone who is pregnant can experience the phenomenon, and it is not something to worry about. “It is usually short-lived and ends on its own, but if you are bothered by it, you can try to change position, get up when the baby is sitting on the nerve. Sometimes people wear belts,” Greves suggested .
‘I actually experienced this in my first and only pregnancy, and it was weird to the point where I said to my doctor,’ Will you please check and make sure everything looks right? ‘Greves remembers:’ I’ve had patients who felt like something was sharp, and I’m doing an exam and that’s fine. The most important thing to note is to know that it is of short duration and that it is not necessarily a pattern. It does not mean that you are going to give birth, it does not mean that your bag breaks water, etc. “
Greves added: “Make sure it is mentioned to your primary care physician, but usually there is nothing to really worry about.”
Asked if it is difficult to swap breathing problems for sharp pelvic pain, Duff considered it for a moment and said, “I’m not sure which one is better.”
Of course, she will not have to deal with either sensation anymore, as she and her husband Matthew Koma are getting ready for the baby boy or girl on the way.
Duff is the mother of an 8-year-old son, Luca, from a previous marriage, and she and Koma share a 2-year-old daughter, Banks. But baby number 3 remains a mystery.
“We do not know the gender of the baby,” she insisted. ‘We found out from Banks what we had, and I found out with Luca. And we were just like, ‘You know what? It’s been a crazy year, let’s go crazy and not find out which baby we’re getting. ”
She added that when they finally found out: “Either way, we’re going to stick and be so excited and just like, I think it’s going to be a giggle party!”