“Doctor… my wife is pregnant and keeps having abdominal pain.

The scan says everything is fine, but the pain isn’t going away.”

Few things frighten expectant parents more than persistent pain during pregnancy.

The truth is that not every abdominal pain means something is wrong with your baby.

Some pregnancy pains are completely normal…while others are medical emergencies.

The challenge is knowing the difference.

In today’s post, I’ll discuss:
Common harmless causes of abdominal pain in pregnancy
The dangerous causes you should never ignore
The warning signs that mean you should go to the hospital immediately

And why, if something “just doesn’t feel right,” it’s always safer to get checked.

Your instincts are super important! Never ignore persistent or severe pain during pregnancy.

Q: Hello doc. thanks so much for the educating info that you keep feeding us and also responding to our inquiries – so much appreciated. Doctor my wife is having her first pregnancy and these first two months have proved to be hell for her. She’s having abdominal pains every now and then. It started with the lower abdomen and now it’s all over. it’s often after moving sometimes its just.
we went to the hospital for scan but there was nothing at all worrying that much in her womb or anywhere cos the scanning was thorough. Our worry is the pain is not reducing at all. What could it be and what should we do? Please help!

A: Hi dear, thanks for writing in and thanks for your kind words.

Abdominal pain in pregnancy may or may not be serious.

Harmless causes include:

· Constipation

· Gas

· The growing womb (uterus)

· Braxton-Hicks contractions (these are ‘fake’ contractions preparing the womb for the main even :D)

Serious causes of pain during pregnancy include:

· Ectopic pregnancy.
· Pre-term labour.
· Miscarriage.
· Placental abruption.
· Urinary tract infection.
· Pre-eclampsia.

Having said all these, you probably have no way of knowing what is harmless or not. So err on the side of caution and see your doctor if ‘it just doesn’t feel right’.

All the best!

Did you experience abdominal pain during your pregnancy? What did your doctor say was the cause?