I start PT next week.... will it work??

Hi Jetz3920

I can hear in your voice that you are very frustrated by your lack of progress in getting back to normal, and resentful for what this pregnancy/birth has done to your body. That's understandable as you have never done this before.

It is unpalatable news indeed that your body is now different from its pre-pregnant state. It is like the elastic and lycra in your knickers has worn out. You can keep hitching them up but they will always slip down again. Sometimes a particularly harsh wash will have them collapsing overnight, but it is usually a gradual deterioration that just creeps up on you until you have to just ditch them and buy new ones. Oh, that it were as easy as that when our internal supports for our pelvic organs lose their ability to keep the organs where they belong! We are stuck with them, because repairing the supports or inserting new artificial supports is like trying to mend a spiders web with model glue. Much extra damage is done during the repair process, and it leaves the original structure still damaged, just hitched up and uncomfortable, and probably causing further damage.

This Wholewoman business is quite sophisticated, as it tackles the problems of managing this damaged tissue from many different angles. To get the best benefit from it you really need to be patient with your body and tackle posture, diet, clothing, furniture etc, exercise, having babies differently, all at the same time. You will make a little progress here, but fall back there, time and time again. Over the months and years it progressively changes, and gets easier as new habits are entrenched.

At only 9 weeks pp you can expect at least another year of improvement without doing *anything* extra, but Wholewoman techniques will hopefully put an end to practices that have the potential to damage your fascia further, and teach you how to manage the body you now have, rather than fruitlessly trying to return it to the way that it was, which is impossible. You have to look at that lovely baby of yours, and say honestly whether you would rather go back to no prolapses and no baby, or have your beautiful baby and a body that is a little saggy. If the latter, that is another story.

I think you may have, like so many of us, taken your body for granted before prolapse appeared. Now having a 'perfect body' is unattainable, and all you can do is go through the long grief process of coming to accept that this is your new body, and that it is not that bad! We have all been there, some more suddenly than others. And some women's bodies get badly damaged, and so not so much.

Re hitching up the knickers you mention that you have had sex now, which is one great way to give prolapses a helpful hitch up. No enormous dramas there? Great! Give that a tick, and make sure you get plenty in future!

Try firebreathing which is in the book Saving the Whole Woman. This is better than lying down for days as far as hitching up is concerned.

Try standing with legs slightly flexed and bending over from the hips and let your arms and head hang over forwards as far as is cmfortable. Have a little jiggle to wriggle it all up towards your belly button.

Weaning your baby will probably not help, from the experiences I have read here from mothers who have tried it.

If your vagina is a little dry as it often is while breastfeeding, and during the second half of your cycle (and peri-menopause onwards, just to give you something to look forward to), use plenty of lubricant every day to allow your organs better mobility, which will mean that they can slide up again easily at every opportunity. Sure they can slide down too, but if you get your posture right they will stay away more from the vaginal opening (safe in the bottom of your belly over your pubes), and be better guarded and locked up there when you do heavy lifting, eg growing babies.

Your prolapses may continually change. Mine do, and have since I started this work, so it is hard to measure success and progress over short times. It is over the months that you will see progress, not days, or perhaps even weeks. Nobody really knows for sure how much of POP is inevitable, and how much could be prevented, but I guess it is a bit like all the other supports of the body. They all sag eventually.

So get to know what is happening in that vagina of yours, and learn all about itand do what you need to do, so you will develop a sixth sense about whether or not a particular activity will limit you or not in the future. You can learn from us, and probably teach us a thing or two as well, in time. You won't always feel helpless and hopeless. You can read STWW, and get on with the workouts designed for strengthening the whole body without damaging you further. I find that I have very few limitations now compared to three years ago, because I have learned to use my body differently. No, I no longer lift 40lb rocks. No, I roll them now, and use levers, and strong men who happen by. After they have moved my rocks I stroke them gently (my men, that is), and make them cups of tea and cake, and open beers for them to let them know how much I appreciate their help. The rocks still get shifted!

Best wishes on your journey to wholeness.

Louise

Here's some of my thoughts - Having a Baby IS a huge life-changing door that you
suddenly find yourself on the other side of. The view is SO different sweetie. Nature designed you
to stretch AND accomodate that baby into your life in every way, and also to Heal in amazing ways, but it takes
time . You are being given TIME to sit and stare into your babies eyes and fall in love. To nurse...
Dear GOD I Just missed it so much, thinking back ! This is a window in time, this Baby-time.
By the time you come out of it, baby will be crawling and you will have had enough time to refine
your plans of how to spend your precious alone time. See the beauty in this change of priorities and
you will be less likely to resent the perceived losses, as there are so many more GAINS.
My instincts, if you asked for Dr. Zelda's prescription ? No PT, go for walks outside as you can,
Spend the monies on a stroller/pram or one of those nifty baby slings the ladies were all raving about,
Your body will heal better if you copy the posture of that beautiful african girl on Christine's recent post,
and do natural activity for a while. It's very easy to actually hurt yourself doing any new exercise, go slow jetz.
Welcome to our Airline.
Zelda

Post-partum can be rocky for many new Mom's. There is a normal, maybe
even expected range of roller-coaster emotions. Thoughts like that
have come to many of us. You'll move through some grief no doubt. You should
have seen the fits I pitched when I found Prolapse, I found glimmers of gratitude
by realizing I wasn't also sorting out being a new Mom when mine started, I admit. So
if you KEEP that feeling of regret, then worry. But here My Kids are 16 and 12 yrs. old
and I've gotten kinda fond of 'em !! -Well , most of the time.
And I spent a few Days fervently regretting being a Momma !!!
I just don't judge myself too harshly because I am aware that we are not our feelings.
Feelings change as our perceptions and priorities change.
I wouldn't exchange my gorgeous highly capable "Old body" for my Kids. Heck NO.

Have faith you'll sort it all out. I kinda envy the younger Women and Mother's here
for having this resource so nice and early. I wish I would had such a lovely bunch
of women to know it wouldna' taken me so long to get smart !
Keep in touch as we just LOVE to share thoughts.
Zelda

How did I miss your post Louised ?
I envision a beautiful book with chapters full of all the gems I read around here.
A chicken-soup -for -the soul kind of book. Full of writing by the amazing writers
and thinkers among us. Cuz, Like THAT was a totallyAWEsome post !!! But I want it
to be coffee book size with real life pictures. K ?
What an introduction.
LOVE and revere YOU,
Zelda

Zelda,

You are so right! It is a strange middle land to be in because of course I hate having the prolapse (trying to work through that) but then I hold my beautiful 6 month old son and have my 4 year old tell me he loves me out of the blue and I think, "nope- wouldn't give them back for my old bod" in the words of the great Chaka Khan: Through the fire,
Through whatever, come what may

I seem to be on a music kick today...

K

the Bomb! Thank you, thank you, thank you. You are so wonderful at pulling it all together ; )

Kimo

contratulations on the new baby and welcome to the site.
every time I read a post like yours from a new mama, my heart breaks a little. I remember how hard the adjustment to mommy-hood was, without a prolapse. and I know how hard it is to come to terms with a prolapse without dealing with postpartum hormones. put 'em together and wow, you've got alot on your plate.
so {{{{{{hugs}}}}}}

9 weeks is still very soon after the birth. much will change in the next year. my baby is almost 9 mo old and my body is still making its way back to its pre-pg state. though I will clarify that, pre-fourth pg state. It will never go back to what it was before babies. and that took me a long time to accept. first I said, no not ME. I will eat well and exercise and it WILL go back. but it didn't so I hollered and screamed at the heavens (and at my dh) and cried for too long.

I've had moments of regretting my pg (not this last one, but my first) and that was not due to prolapse (didn't have one at the time) but due to an undiagnosed postpartum depression. not saying you have that, but just be on the lookout. it happens to the best of us.

at 9 weeks I'd say make sure you are eating well, resting as much as you can, taking walks in the outside air and learning this posture. personally, I wouldn't rush into PT (but then again, I may be biased) but I would order christine's book asap.

and one more thing, my mw did recommend I do some headstands (@@ at her) to help. I tried it (@@ at me) and it helped as long as I was upside down. can't really live upside down.

kids are needing me so I have to go. but stick around and ask any questions you may have

Hi Zelda

Thanks, but don't revere me. I am just a product of my life with all the divine intervention I have received, plus no doubt some attention from the evil one as well. I think I am quite a bit wiser than I was when I was younger, as I think we all are, and become.

It is quite interesting moving on a bit in life and being able to see where you and all people fit into the big picture. You can't get that view until you are a certain age. I think you and so many of the young Members are a lot wiser than I was at your age, and I am happy to share everything I have ever learned with younger women, who can discern whether or not it is BS for themselves.

I didn't really have access to much older women's wisdom as a youngster, because the significant older women in my life didn't seem to want to talk about the big issues, ie sex, religion and politics. They also didn't know much about their own bodies, being heavily into the authority of experts and those who should be obeyed for purposes of king and country and freedom from domination by foreign powers and people who didn't speak English. They had a lot of other stuff to deal with, the Boer War and two World Wars (fighting other people's wars on behalf of mother England), The Great Depression, The Korean War, the Cold War. There wasn't a lot of importance placed by them on independent thinking, social enquiry and self discovery.

Anyway, hopefully it has changed for the better now. I am inspired by lots of women, young and old, many of them here, and I take my hat off to Christine for making it possible.

Cheers

Louise

I've always felt reverence for great writers !
You are on the list along with Louise Erdrich
and Garrison Keeler.
You make me laugh all the time, and I often think
"That could not have been put any better." Your an
inspiration, and I'm often in awe of your wit and wisdom.
No worries I'm not going to start some cult in your name.
But I would buy your book.
Zelda