Very dull cramp/tightness only on one side - very early pregnancy

[Anonymous]

Hi all- I am 4 weeks 4 days ish and first pregnancy. I haven’t been feeling many symptoms yet, which I would expect, other than feeling bloat in the evenings (starting this weekend), and a few mild cramps here and there. When I feel bloated, I also feel a general tightness (Almost like a mildly pulled muscle that needs to be stretched) in my lower abdomen, but it seems to really only feel this way on the left side. Is this normal? Of course I’m freaking myself out that it’s ectopic.

[Anonymous]

That sounds exactly my fifth week of pregnancy! So freaky, and I had no idea what was normal. Currently at 33 weeks and everything is still healthy — I was told the stretchy crampy feeling might have been the uterus expanding? Although it went away after week 5/6 for me and my uterus is definitely much expanded now!

Congrats, OP, and good luck! I hope things go smoothly for you!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hi all- I am 4 weeks 4 days ish and first pregnancy. I haven’t been feeling many symptoms yet, which I would expect, other than feeling bloat in the evenings (starting this weekend), and a few mild cramps here and there. When I feel bloated, I also feel a general tightness (Almost like a mildly pulled muscle that needs to be stretched) in my lower abdomen, but it seems to really only feel this way on the left side. Is this normal? Of course I’m freaking myself out that it’s ectopic.

Maybe keep in mind that until very recently most women didn't even know they were pregnant at this point, so you are overanalyzing everything. It's going to be a long 40 weeks if you keep this up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That sounds exactly my fifth week of pregnancy! So freaky, and I had no idea what was normal. Currently at 33 weeks and everything is still healthy — I was told the stretchy crampy feeling might have been the uterus expanding? Although it went away after week 5/6 for me and my uterus is definitely much expanded now!

Congrats, OP, and good luck! I hope things go smoothly for you!

Thanks! Hoping for a smooth and safe pregnancy. I appreciate you sharing your experience!

[Anonymous]

Probably implantation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hi all- I am 4 weeks 4 days ish and first pregnancy. I haven’t been feeling many symptoms yet, which I would expect, other than feeling bloat in the evenings (starting this weekend), and a few mild cramps here and there. When I feel bloated, I also feel a general tightness (Almost like a mildly pulled muscle that needs to be stretched) in my lower abdomen, but it seems to really only feel this way on the left side. Is this normal? Of course I’m freaking myself out that it’s ectopic.

Maybe keep in mind that until very recently most women didn't even know they were pregnant at this point, so you are overanalyzing everything. It's going to be a long 40 weeks if you keep this up.

NP- oh shove it. How does this help OP? It's a nerve-wracking time!
OP, cramping is normal early on, as is bleeding. Only worry if you have both together, even then it isn't necessarily bad news. Congrats!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hi all- I am 4 weeks 4 days ish and first pregnancy. I haven’t been feeling many symptoms yet, which I would expect, other than feeling bloat in the evenings (starting this weekend), and a few mild cramps here and there. When I feel bloated, I also feel a general tightness (Almost like a mildly pulled muscle that needs to be stretched) in my lower abdomen, but it seems to really only feel this way on the left side. Is this normal? Of course I’m freaking myself out that it’s ectopic.

Maybe keep in mind that until very recently most women didn't even know they were pregnant at this point, so you are overanalyzing everything. It's going to be a long 40 weeks if you keep this up.

NP- oh shove it. How does this help OP? It's a nerve-wracking time!
OP, cramping is normal early on, as is bleeding. Only worry if you have both together, even then it isn't necessarily bad news. Congrats!

OP here- thanks! I typed up a couple responses to this poster and decided it wasn’t worth it. I’m a naturally anxious person and have just accepted I’ll be more on edge than some and that’s fine, I’ll do my best to manage.

Appreciate your feedback and experiences, thank you so much for sharing! Upon further search of old posts, sounds super similar to corpus luteum so I’ll just make a note to ask my ob about it at my first appointment.

Thanks everyone who shared positive vibes and reassurance. It’s much appreciated!

[Anonymous]

Yup, that’s normal for the first few weeks. I’m not a doctor so I don’t know what it is medically, but I felt the same thing with both pregnancies. I guess I imagined it was implantation and then just continued growth. Still, completely normal. Congrats!

[Anonymous]

I had a lot of cramping (not super painful, but like a dull period cramping) during early pregnancy. Even had some brown spotting. I’m 15 weeks now and so far, all has been fine. Pregnancy is a very anxious time, even more so for those of us who are already anxious people.

[Anonymous]

It could also be a follicle on your ovaries - if you did any fertility treatments it can be a result of the stimulation. Some people are also sensitive enough to feel ovulation and implantation. I wouldn't worry about dull crampy or achy feelings. Also the embryo is so tiny now you wouldn't feel your uterus stretching yet...that does happen but more like end of your first trimester and into your second when your uterus is growing quickly.

[Anonymous]

If it's not sharp and you have no bleeding, just hang in there. If it gets more acute or very painful (you can't sleep etc) go get checked for an ectopic.

I have had three early miscarriages and two healthy pregnancies. The only time I felt this (and freaked out) was in my healthy pregnancies. My losses were period-like cramping and spotting that got heavier, so very obvious compared to this dull ache type stuff.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hi all- I am 4 weeks 4 days ish and first pregnancy. I haven’t been feeling many symptoms yet, which I would expect, other than feeling bloat in the evenings (starting this weekend), and a few mild cramps here and there. When I feel bloated, I also feel a general tightness (Almost like a mildly pulled muscle that needs to be stretched) in my lower abdomen, but it seems to really only feel this way on the left side. Is this normal? Of course I’m freaking myself out that it’s ectopic.

Thanks for posting this question. I am in the same situation at 4 weeks 1 day and was worried. The responses helped me. Thank you.

[Anonymous]

That happened to me early on in both my pregnancies so I vote normal.

[Anonymous]

Round ligament pain

[Anonymous]

I had this exactly and was told by my OBV that it was likely the side I ovulated the follicle from that cycle. Sure enough when I has an u/s at 5 weeks they could tell which side - I was followed by RE since we did IUI so I had super early U/S