Chorevia

Day 107 of 280 · 15 weeks + 2 days

The jab in the side

Last reviewed · 3 min read · 4 sources · Plain-text version

Fifteen weeks and two days. A sharp jab at the side of the bump is usually round ligament pain and eases with rest. Today you learn the four-step rule for it.

Size this week
about the size of an apple
Length this week
around 10.1 cm from head to bottom
A South Asian woman in leggings and a loose sweater paused on a park path in bright morning light, one hand at her side, her friend beside her waiting, a bench nearby.

Fifteen weeks and two days. The pain this note is about is sharp, brief and alarming the first time. Today you get its name, its usual timing, and a rule so you're not deciding what to do while it's happening.

Your baby

A single red apple on a plain pale wooden table, soft window light.

Around 10.1cm long from head to bottom, about the size of an apple (NHS). The baby's eyes are sensitive to light (NHS), and the baby grows quickly in there, protected by the amniotic sac and fluid and fed by the placenta (NHS). A jab in your side is a stretch in you, not a knock to the baby.

Your body

The NHS describes an occasional jabbing pain on the sides of the bump, round ligament pain, which may ease with rest (NHS). It most often occurs between 18 and 24 weeks; moving slowly or changing positions may help, and a maternity girdle may be useful (MedlinePlus). So if you haven't felt it, it may still be coming, and if you have, you're a little early to the usual window.

What it is not: constant. MedlinePlus says to see your provider right away for constant, severe abdominal pain, possible contractions, or pain with bleeding or fever (MedlinePlus). The rule below is built on that line.

Try today

  1. The side-jab rule

    Time: 10 minutes, when it happens

    1. Stop what you're doing.

    2. Change position: sit if you're standing, roll onto your side if you're lying down. Moving slowly or changing positions may help (MedlinePlus).

    3. Rest. The NHS says it may ease with rest (NHS).

    4. Recheck in ten minutes. A jab that has gone, or is fading, is the ordinary kind.

    5. Pain that stays, that's severe, or that comes with bleeding or fever: see your provider right away (MedlinePlus).

    Make it work:

    Say the four words to your partner tonight: stop, change, rest, recheck. Then they can say them back to you when it jabs.

Watch for

  • Normal

    an occasional jab at the side of the bump that eases with rest (NHS).

    Call your provider right away

    for constant, severe abdominal pain, possible contractions, or pain with bleeding or fever (MedlinePlus).

  • Normal

    a backache that eases when you lie down, rest, or apply heat (OWH).

    Call your provider

    if the pain does not get better (OWH).

  • Normal

    hands that feel numb on waking; MedlinePlus says a wrist brace at night can help (MedlinePlus).

    Call your provider

    to check any persistent numbness, tingling or weakness in an arm or leg (MedlinePlus).

  • Normal

    ten days of notes and a longer list of warning signs than you've ever had.

    Call your provider

    if you feel like something just isn't right, even if it isn't on the list; the CDC says to contact them if something seems wrong (CDC).

For you

The whole of today in one line: a jab stops; pain that stays gets a call. The NHS's word for the ordinary kind is "occasional" (NHS), and MedlinePlus's word for the kind to see someone about is "constant" (MedlinePlus). You don't have to be a diagnostician. You have to notice which word fits.

One more habit from the same page, for the back rather than the side: bend your knees, not your waist, when you pick something up (MedlinePlus). It will matter more every week from here.

If you're the partner: when she stops on the path with a hand at her side, don't ask twenty questions. Say the four words, find a bench, and watch the clock with her.

Sources

This guide is general education that summarizes published research and guidance from groups like the American Academy of Pediatrics, the CDC, and the WHO. It isn’t medical advice, and every child develops on their own timeline. Your pediatrician knows your child; if something feels wrong, call them. In an emergency, call 911.

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