Tightness in stomach muscles on waking- 34 weeks

Hi there

I’m 34 weeks pregnant and often find the area immediately under my ribs/top part of my stomach muscles to be quite tight throughout the last couple of months of pregnancy.

I wake several times a night and this tightness is even stronger, bordering on painful. It’s as if I hold myself more tense in my sleep. Once I take a good deep breath it release a little and baby instantly starts kicking around, as if it’s created some space.

Just wondered if anyone else has this experience? Or any ideas about what might cause it.

It’s definitely not braxton hicks as i’ve had those and they feel very different. I have an old surgery scar at the centre of my upper stomach which has been pulling as i’ve got bigger, so could relate to that. Unhelpfully have discovered a hernia under that scar which is being checked out by the doctors in incase it impacts on birth choices 🙄.

[ChrisWest1983]

What you described sounds like what I think are my BH...

[Hidden in reply to ChrisWest1983]

My BH have been much lower, around the centre/front of my stomach (like a ball of tightening) and lasted less than a minute. And so far I’ve been awake.

The tightness I experience every time on waking is more immediately in the area under my rib cage, is painful and feels like it’s been like that for a while before I wake. I’ve had lots of reflux/heartburn/gastric issues, so that might be part of it.