Evening all

I'm needing a bit of advice and reassurance here! I went for my 20 week midwife appointment today and when she pulled up all my last test results I have a really bad waterworks infection. The problem is that the results were from three weeks ago and my GP surgery had lost them so nothing had been done all this time!

For weeks I've been in pain with terrible stabbing around my kidneys, loss of appetite often, and I've generally felt totally unwell but I put it down to being pregnant. It's been pretty miserable dealing with the pain which had gotten worse over time.

I know the midwife told me that I shouldn't worry, they can treat it now and monitor me. And I've been plonked on the old antibiotics and been told to rest up with plenty of TLC (although the TLC bit I can't do lol)

Thing is, how common is this? Has anyone else had this problem? And more to the point where/how did I get it? I'm worried to be honest!

I know I should have asked the midwife a lot of this but to be honest I was just relieved to find out there was a problem and it wasn't just pregnancy/in my head....

Any advice and sharing of experience is really gratefully recieved!

Thanks girls

Just wanted to send you some hugs.. I was also diagnosed with UTI for the first time in my life and put on antibiotics, but no other explanation. I haven't taken them yet, trying some natural treatment first for a few days, but your condition sounds more serious and I think antibiotics is the right way to go. Hope they did the sensitivity test and checked which antibiotic is actually going to kill the bug. Best of luck and hope you feel better soon. Once the infection is cleared (or even before) start taking some cranberry tablets for prevention, I have read that it works really well. Take care!

I am under consultant care as I have had kidney problems and very frequent UTIs in the past (only had one since being pregnant thankfully). They are really, really common in pregnancy to be honest... the reason being that all your 'waterworks', urethra etc are more relaxed because of pregnancy hormones and therefore infection is more likely to get in and travel about - or can be caused just by your bladder being irritated by small particles in your wee.. They are horrible to have - and research shows that kidney infections can actually cause depression like symptoms because of how miserable and low they make you feel. They need to be monitored in pregnancy because there is a risk of them causing premature labour (please dont panic about this as its something that 'is a risk' not that it will definitley happen if you have one)..

My tips for avoiding getting them are - to drink as much as you can to flush your bladder through daily, if at all possible try and use a water filter for tap/kettle water as it illiminates the limescale you get in tap water which can cause irritation as it goes through... anything with cranberry is supposed to be a really natural way of dealing with bladder infections and I know if I get one and drink loads of cranberry juice it helps a lot (not for everyone though)... Now you know what the symptoms are - keep an eye out and if you feel you have one again get to the doctor or midwife with a wee sample for them to test for you... antibiotics will do the trick and are better for you to take than to go without... Hope you feel better soon xx

Ah double post!!

Hi woadie

Silly doctors! Can't believe they lost such important test results

A water infection can be caused by a number of things and they are very common during pregnancy. Search UTIs on the NHS website, it has quite a lot of good info there.

I have a suspected UTI at the moment, took a urine sample to the doctors today and my doctor is sending it off to the lab, and have been told it will be back within a week!

Watch out for thrush once you have finished the antibiotics, I have been on anitbiotics twice in this pregnancy so far and have had thrush both times!

I hope you feel better soon, and aren't feeling too uncomfortable this evening, water infections are evil!

Thanks Ivy and the advice - brilliant! As soon as I'm able to I think I will take a trip to look for these tablets... where can I buy them please?!

The hospital sent along a list of antibiotics it was resistant to and the best one so they knew the right one for me thank god. I just can't believe it has been going on all this time!

I hope you feel better very soon too x

Thanks Ivy and the advice - brilliant! As soon as I'm able to I think I will take a trip to look for these tablets... where can I buy them please?!

The hospital sent along a list of antibiotics it was resistant to and the best one so they knew the right one for me thank god. I just can't believe it has been going on all this time!

I hope you feel better very soon too x

oops double post sorry

Woadie, you can find the cranberry tablets in health food stores- Wholefoods have them and I am sure Holland&Barrets does too, worth checking other places as well internet for better prices. Try to get ones that do not contain uva ursi as it is contraindicated in pregnancy (mine contain it and I don't worry too much about it as the concentration is not that high).

Also, like others suggested, drink a lot of fluids to flush the infection out. I read that D-mannose is another alternative treatment that is very effective. Also parsley and stinging nettle teas are very good too.