New here

Submitted by katygal on July 27, 2008 - 10:17pm
Body: 

Hi everyone.
I just wanted to say hello and that I am new here. I'm very glad I found this forum. On the 4th of July I discovered my cystocele in the shower, I'd been on my feet all day and was COMPLETELY horrifed and shocked. I had my third baby 6 months ago too, so I'm guessing this is from his delivery, which was actually really easy. It was the first baby 6 years ago that was rough and from what I understand sort of paved the way for this sort of thing to happen. I am breastfeeding my baby now too, and I keep reading that possibly the lowwwww estrogen right now contributes to the laxity down there. But anyway, I have been living in fear, all those grieving feelings full force. Today was my best day so far, I was practicing the WW posture all day and I have found that if I flap my arms up and down first, that my body falls into the proper posture, I feel my abdomen soften and fall forward and then my body just feels so steady. Even walking up stairs today, I felt like my center of gravity had changed, it was an enormous difference. So I was flapping my wings all day long today, my baby even laughed at me. :) But, I felt so good standing that way. I have also gained GREAT strength in my low abs from Christine's Kegel posture on her blog. I feel so tight and I can really feel the pressure and all whenever I bend forward. Consequently, sitting down feels better, my lower back and really whole torso just feel stronger. Anyway, I just wanted to say hello. Thank you for this forum Christine, it's been a great help. I'm sure I will post more later, with more details about my situation.

katygal

louiseds

July 28, 2008 - 12:39am

Hi Katygal

Welcome. So glad you have found the techniques helpful. You sound very positive, despite your distressing discovery. It really is hard to say what caused your prolapse. As you say the beginnings were probably way back. You have take some good steps towards living with this and it sounds like you are making good progress. Six months postpartum is still early days as far as your body's recovery from pregnancy and birth is concerned. Further improvements will happen, probably for at least another six months. Then you will have a better idea of the long term condition of your POP's.

You now know how to look after them, even if they worsen over time (which they may do). Many women are walking this planet with prolapsed pelvic organs and don't even realise it. We do hear about sudden prolapse (like yours), but your bladder has most likely been prolapsing quietly away for some time, and somehow a straw has broken the camel's back, and down and back it has tumbled (your bladder, that is, not the camel). ;-)

Cheers

Louise

rosewood

July 28, 2008 - 3:19am

You sounded like me -- 3 years ago I came here after quick birth of #3, at 7 mos post partum, and a really difficult first birth 6 years prior. I was devastated too -- I'm here to tell you, life goes on!! And, gets better all the way around. There is healing out there -- there is. Getting through the initial shock and grief is hard -- also, it was difficult to do all that with a baby to be carried, too. There's so much for you to try. If you haven't, try Christine's ballet workout from her newest edition of her book -- it's fabulous for pulling everything up. Check out what's worked for others -- firebreathing, nauli, etc. Keep going -- there's hope. There are ups and downs for us all, I think - but the general trend is UP.

blessings, Marie

kiki

July 28, 2008 - 3:07pm

hi Katygal,
welcome! I'm so glad you found this amazing community of women. It's so hard to be in that place, but I know how much these women have helped me.

Re breastfeeding. Initially I was told by a great surgeon (who said I was better off living with my severe prolapses than surgery if i could--which is what made him great to me!) that he wouldnt' see me again till i quit breastfeeding, but breastfeeding for as long as I wanted--length would not matter. my physio then said when my periods came back that would help things to be a bit better and that perhaps when i stopped that i will be less vulnerable to changes, but no one advocated stopping or seemed to say it would make that huge a difference.

my periods came back around 10 months and i don't know if that helped--it was in the midst of a huge period of change anyway, that took place through the whole first year post partum. around a year things plateaued, and have stayed pretty much the same. every now and then they yoyo--i get constipated or overdo it and they get worse for a bit but then get better again. but overall the improvement is incredible. i started out with about a stage 3 rect and cyst, and am now at 1.5 or so--when i went in for a smear test the other day the gyn said she could barely even tell! wowsers!
i still have to be very mindful of my body and eat very very well, but that all just makes me healthier...

and, i'm still breastfeeding at 19 months and have no plan of stopping for my prolapses.

kiki

alemama

July 28, 2008 - 8:31pm

that is so exciting! I am glad to hear you are doing so well- and really excited to hear that you are still breastfeeding. I had the same shift happen around a year but felt huge improvement at around 18 months postpartum. I think the estrogen thing is a little silly- most women report feeling down (prolapse wise) around their periods-so I think nursing is one of those magical built in body healers in that you don't have to deal with that heaviness for a while postpartum.

Katygal. Glad you found us. You sound so positive. I do the flapping when I walk the neighborhood and I know I look so goofy- but what the heck it really works and gets my heart rate up too! congratulations on your baby. stick around.