post patum prolapse

welcome to the site and congrats on the new baby!
I only have a few minutes right now, but didn't want you to have to wait too long for a response, I'm sure the others will chime in soon (weekends tend to be slow here).
anyway, you are so right, surgery is not your only option. in fact its not even your best option.
11 weeks pp is soooo early, so much can still change on its own, you can't predict what things will look like a year from now. BUT there is plenty you can do to help things along, to stabilize and help reverse a prolapse or at the very least prevent things from getting worse.
first off, never ever strain on the toilet. do whatever you have to with your diet to prevent constipation. fiber is your friend.
second, learn the posture. I can only imagine how busy you must be, but somehow figure out how to set aside some time to read the faq's here. do a search for 'posture' and try it out ASAP. once you get the hang of it, it is something you do whenever you are upright, so it doesn't have to take up more time from your day.
if you can, buy a copy of Christine's book, saving the wholewoman. make sure to get the second edition, its available on this site. the book describes how a prolapse happens, has great diagrams of the anatomy, etc and describes how the posture helps put things back where they belong. it also contains very helpful exercises too.
its alot of info, but don't let it overwhelm you. the prolapse isn't going anywhere, you have all the time in the world. this is not life-threatening.

and stick around. you'll get lots of support here.

Hi Florentine

Welcome to the Wholewoman community, and I am so glad you found us. You must be feeling a little overwhelmed at this stage, finding prolapse at a time when you are juggling everything just to survive, and this worry in itself may contribute to your not being able to empty your bowel properly.

Take a deep breath and let it out again. Chances are that your prolapse will give you less grief than your three beloved children in the longer term if you look after your body well. Firstly, go to the home page, www.wholewoman.com, and check out the FAQ's. This will give you an overview of what you can do to minimise your symptoms.

It mainly involves careful attention to your posture so that you maintain your lumbar curve and don't tuck your tummy or butt in. Careful attention to your diet and wellbeing will help to maintain a light bowel; constipation is a major irritant for prolapses, and straining on the toilet can worsen them. You will also benefit from wearing clothes that do not compress your lower belly, which gives your pelvic organs room to move forward and rest on the pubic bone, instead of the pelvic floor. You can also examine your general lifestyle and see if there are ways that you can take pressure off your pelvic floor with lifting and carrying, playing with and managing your children, sitting and general everyday stuff.

There is also a major brain adjustment that you will need to make. It involves letting go of the idea of getting back your virginal body shape. The modern androgenous posture and body shape favoured by the fashion and fitness industries can be very damaging for a woman who has had babies, because it positions the pelvic organs right over the pelvic floor where they have no support at all, except for this thin, sinewy group of muscles that are not load-bearing in their structure. Pelvic organs need solid support, the pubic bone. And they can only get it if the woman is prepared to let her belly be soft and round as she moves in everyday life,allowing room for her pelvic organs to move forwards, celebrating her fertile belly. Your body needs this round belly now for its longterm wellbeing. It does not need to look like a supermodel. It has much more important work to do now. Learn to love your belly.

Purchase the second edition of Christine Kent's book, Saving the Wholewoman, which is an excellent investment in your body's health. You will learn so much from it about how your body works in the pelvic area and the theory behind this more primitive posture that Christine recommends. You may find it easier to snatch a few pages of this book than spend the necessary time online at these Forums to trawl through thousands of posts (and there are thousands), with your children so young. There is stuff in the book that you won't find here. You can buy it at the online store. The Forums are great for sharing experiences, and we really do learn a lot from each other, as well as building the body of knowledge with our own findings.

Re difficulty using your bowels, you will need plenty of fibre and plenty of water. This means lots of vegetables and fruits, whole grains, nuts and seeds, and perhaps some extras like ground flax seed, prunes, oranges, green apples etc. There are a whole heap of foods that will help keep your stools soft, but there is often a stress component as well. You may find splinting helpful to straighten the kink in your rectum so the stool can get out in a straight line. To do this insert your thumb into your vagina and press gently against the back wall of the vagina to push the kink back. Then with luck your bowel will empty without any straining.

Having said all that, you are still very early post partum, so your body will improve a lot, all by itself, over the next nine months, so take heart. You will probably hear from post partum Mums who will describe similar situations at the stage you are at.

Take care with your busy life, hug your babies, and hang in there. Call back with questions and comments.

Cheers

Louise