new here...7wks postpartum and i think its getting worse!

hi there and welcome to the forums (though I am so sorry you had reason to go looking for us)

there have been women in their 20's posting here, if I recall correctly some of whom had never even had children. so there goes the 'type of woman who has prolapse' thing. unfortunately this can happen to anyone. ok, so I was older than you when I found my prolapse (33 or 34, don't remember) and already had three kids, but still, I thought it was only the little old ladies in nursing homes who developed prolapse. quite shocking when it happens to you!

you wrote that you need help understanding all of this. when you get the book, you'll have a very detailed explanation of the normal anatomy (not the way the dr's see it but the way it should be) as well as a description of how a prolapse develops, how to stabilize, reverse and prevent it too.
your first birth, in all likelihood, set you up for this somewhat. helping a baby turn with suction is not very gentle on your vagina. episiotomy is pretty brutal too. now, there's a time and place for everything and of course the goal of childbirth is to end up with a healthy baby and mother, but unfortunately many doctors dont' realize what these seemingly benign interventions do to the mother's pelvic organ support system.

but the good news is that so often we hear of women with an early pp prolapse that resolves pretty quickly. you're still very early. forget about the 6-week myth, postpartum healing takes at least a year. personally, I was at my worst at three months pp, but it got better from there. not on its own, but with posture and some exercise.

I know how overwhelming and frightening it is to think 'oh g-d, I will have this horrible thing for the rest of my life'. but chances are good that you can stabilize and even reverse this to some degree. I am 99% symptom free (only symptomatic occasionally before my period and around ovulation) and have even gone on to have another baby. my life is great, I am in no way limited by this. the worst part of it (for me) was the emotional/psychological piece. prolapse made me feel extremely freakish, unsexy, old, frail, etc. but I'm over that now and back to my extremely sexy youthful and lively me. seriously though, you can do this. take it one day at a time. prolapse is not life threatening, you have time on your side.

and congratulations on your new baby. I think your kids are lucky to be so close in age and to have such a young mama. you'll get through this.

{{{{{{hugs}}}}}}

how it would be really hard to discover this in your early 20's. Certainly it's hard at any time, and there's another factor of the unreality of it happening at this stage of your life. As you'll see when you read Christine's book, its not so much an age issue, as birth injury at any age can lead to it. And, it's not just birth injury, either. It's lifestyle. It's epidemic in our culture.

Having said that, there's much reason to hope!! There's a lot you can do to heal, and as early post-partum as you are, you may see significant improvement. There's a grieving process for us all, and part of it is that it can't be happening to ME (whoever you are). The grieving can be anguish.

What you need to know is that there are many of us living very well with this condition -- perhaps living better than before, ironically. It's the silver lining of the cloud. There may be the temptation, especially at your age, to think of resorting to surgery (I don't know if it is!). This is where you really have some control, in my opinion -- to choose to let your body do its own healing and stabilization -- rather than subject your body to something that would be REALLY hard to live with for the rest of your life. Don't know if I 'm quite making sense, but stay around and let us support you.

And, CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR BABIES!

Finally, I'm sure it was the suction (vacuum) with my first that paved the way for my condition -- many of us have been injured by our modern obstetric practices -- hey, could have been worse -- the stories I've heard from my grand and great-grandmother's time -- brutal.

Sending healing thoughts -- Marie

Hi Luvmiboyz,
I also may have a prolapse too. My former OB never gave me clear answers as to what the lump was in there. She told me it was just my vaginal wall sagging and it's common to see that with women who've given birth vaginally. I had a 3rd degree tear that wasn't sewn up properly too...left part of the perineum open and 3 months ago my OB recut and restitched me because i was having pain still down there. She said she would fix the lump down there by strengthening my tissues...after the surgery i asked her if it was a prolapse and she said no, almost like a rectocele. So i'm really confused by this still cause rectocele is a prolapse. So i found myself a new OB and although my perineum got restitched it is raised now from how it was done and still is tender. but my new OB said it will soften in time and not be tender anymore, so i hope she's right. The lump was gone after the surgery until last week i saw it again. So now i'm reading up about prolapse and trying to figure out what i have. It's hard to examine cause i am still having pain inside. But i can tell you that the first month or two after my son's birth i felt the heavy sensation more down there and like something was inside. It got better without me doing anything about it. Now i am trying the posture and going to not push hard with my bowel movements and going to see my new OB on the 18th to find out what this lump is exactly and how bad it is if i do have a prolapse.
I don't feel the heavy sensation all the time, only sometimes and i don't have any urine or bowel problems otherwise except i have this hemmoroid that won't go away for good.
I am 30 and this was my first vaginal birth, my other baby was by csection. So i was surprised that i might have a prolapse too.
I think you will see and feel a major difference in time. You are lucky that you are looking into it now at this early stage after pp. I wish i started taking care of myself earlier after pp cause i remember straining on the toilet several times pp which i regret now.

I feel so strongly about a few things that have come up here, please everyone, when reading this know that its coming from a good place and if the tone comes across wrong I apologize in advance (I'm so good at saying things in a stupid way)

I just cannot believe that either of you two were born with this. as mentioned before, in another thread, this is largely a cultural problem. from our very first days we are conditioned to tuck our bums. to eat diets that lead to constipation and straining. to sit on soft furniture and watch tv. to exercise like the men around us. to birth our babies flat on our backs and then be supermom by 6 weeks pp. it goes on and on.
your body was in all likelihood born perfect. symptoms may have appeared in childhood or adolesence but that might have been due to the mistreatment of your body even then. hindsight is of course, 20/20. we can look back and say, see that's when it began. or I shouldn't have done this or that. that's a very normal part of the grieving process and its valuable, as long as we don't get caught up in blaming ourselves. now we know better, now we do better.

next, so many of us are angry with our doctors for not telling us more. most doctors have our best interests at heart (at least I'd like to think so) but they really do not know everything. WE have to take responsibility for our own health. yes, consult a dr when you need to. but a drs only know what they know. and in this case, what they know is far from the truth, as christine explains so well in her book and blog.
We've been let down, too, by being conditioned not to pay heed to our intuition, our own insights into our bodies and function. a woman who can see a rectocele and then is told its not prolapse?! that's insane, imo.

and third, far be it from me to tell anyone how to plan their families. but do not give up your hopes and dreams of more babies due to prolapse. I had my fourth after finding my 'celes and am no worse of for it. Thank G-d for christine for giving me the courage and the capacity to bring my beautiful little guy into our family. I know it feels like you will never be able to have another. but that is how you feel now. spend time here. apply the posture/exercises/lifestyle etc. you'll see how this can be stabilized, how you can appreciate the intrinsic strength and power of your body. you'll see that you can trust your body to carry another baby, if you so desire. It can be done.

and lastly, amanda, no worries about the 'type of woman' thing. I took no offense. was just saying that I felt the same way. every woman who finds a bulge in her vagina feels that way, because none of us are prepared for it. not in our 20's, not in our 30's and not in our 70's.
you're young, you're strong, you've got a good supply of estrogen going for you. you'll be ok, once you get over the hump.
what's that home depot tag line...you can do it. we can help.

I was your age (22, 5’4’’, 125 lbs always active) when I began to have prolapse symptoms after an easy delivery (7 pounds baby), but I received an episiotomy that was “required” and that led to 3rd degree tear (not in USA). Episiotomy use was 100% there, today it’s about 98% (I heard stories that some young doctors when they forgot to perform the episiotomy (which was a hospital “delivery” requirement), they were afraid that they would be fired, so they cut a woman after the baby was delivered!). The delivery went very smoothly, the baby’s head was almost out when they directed me to birth/surgical table, fixed my legs and cut. 2 days after the delivery the stitches disintegrated and I was told that I don’t need any repair, that it’s just fine like it is. I am 36, have been dealing with prolapse since then without any surgical intervention. In my opinion there is significant number of young women out there with prolapse and many of them might not even know about it.

if you type 'estrogen' into the search box here, you'll probably pull up a bunch of posts

I'm glad to hear that your cystocele is mild and that your uterus is in a good position. that's certainly good news.
my guess is that when women see improvement when they wean, its coincidental. estrogen levels oftentime resume during bf (as evidenced by return of periods) and I haven't heard anyone here report that weaning improved prolapse symptoms. probably because all estrogen can do for you is bulk up the vaginal tissue and maybe help with dryness. it cannot, unfortunately, reposition pelvic organs. sadly, this is another myth the medical community still believes. the good news is that you don't have to wait until you wean to see improvement. posture, exercise, diet, etc can all be helpful NOW.

Dear luvmiboyz,
Actually my symptoms improved after I stopped breastfeeding. It might take your body few months after you stop breastfeeding to get a hormone balance. As you describe your stage I think with Christine's program you have a great chance for significant improvement.

you can probably find my old post where I figured out the connection between estrogen and breast feeding- but in case you don't want to go searching- what granolamom says is exactly right. Breast feeding is actually amazing for prolapse. Until your menstrual cycle returns your estrogen is lower- but the trade off is that you do not have to have periods (well if your estrogen is low you won't- some women have amazing estrogen production through lactation- and start cycling again right after the birth- weaning for increased estrogen does not apply to them). If you read here much you will have read the connection between bad prolapse days and where a woman is in her cycle. Almost everyone here has reported feeling lower, more pressure, etc during a period and some even have increased symptoms at ovulation.

annaf, I am curious as to when you stopped breastfeeding? Did you start feeling better right away? Had your cycle already returned?
My cycle did not return for a year and a half (or so I can't remember exactly-but it is documented here somewhere)- and I am pregnant now and finally weaning my little nurser- he's two. Right at a year I started feeling really good.

I have 3 children. I had breastfed each of them for 18 months. The youngest is 5 years old now. I felt improvement within about 4 months after I stopped breastfeeding. My cycle returned back about 2 months after the delivery (after each delivery) and it has been very regular for all my life. When I was about one year after the last delivery I found Christine's program and the improvement was even better (not to tell about the relieve that I don't have to have the surgery). I have to say that during periods the symptoms are a bit worse, but well... I don't know any woman (even "healthy" one) that would like her periods. So I just deal with it and try to "help" my body as much as I can.

I have never been 'not breastfeeding' since getting prolapse 3 years ago but I can say that when I got my period back after the first baby my prolapse actually got worse. This baby is 13 months old and I still don't have it back (and really dread getting it after last time). I think that that would be the same as not breastfeeding wouldn't it? Anyway just wanted to share so that you enjoy this time breastfeeding because you may feel better now instead of the other way around.

Oh ya I also feel like I can't breath when I am in posture properly. I was glad to read that someone else feels that way. I am assuming it is because I slumped so much before that it is a big change to make internally as well.

.
I don't know if this will help, but make sure that in your attempts to lift your ribcage up, you aren't arching your back in the process, nor holding tense; your appearance should be relaxed, not robotic - Think in terms of elongating your body, with shoulders relaxed down, parallel with the hips (neither forward nor back). "If you hung an imaginary plumb line from the earlobe, the line would hang straight through the middle of the anklebone."

Hang in there - It does take a while to retrain both our body's frame and our frame of mind, but given time, it will become second nature.

Breathe and be good

♥~Blue

How cool! Thanks for sharing that. Since having my first child I have not been unpregnant or not breastfeeding-
I know the reason Doctors site for recommending that after breast-feeding ends prolapse will improve is the estrogen increase-
but since you already had your cycle back for well over a year I wonder exactly what the "real" connection is?
I wonder if it is just good old fashioned time passage? What do you think annaf? Is there some other physiological function connected with breastfeeding?

I've been pg and/or bf for over 10 years now. almost 11.
so I developed my prolapse while bf an 18 mo (had already gotten my period back) and it stabilized some and even began to get smaller over the next year and a half (still bf).
after this last baby, I was at my absolute worst at 3 mo pp. by 6 mo pp I was back at my baseline, periods resumed at 7 mo. I'm still bf.

I think there are so many yet undiscovered physiological funtions connected with bf, and like everything else, probably a bit of variation from woman to woman. some swear that exclusive bf works like birth control, and yet, I know people who've gotten pg at 2 mo pp while exclusively bf on demand, cosleeping and all.

it really doesn't matter much, I wouldn't mind at all if when I wean, the prolapse goes away. I don't even think hoping for that (even if I can't find a good reason to believe it) is a bad thing either.
but I wouldn't recommend weaning in hopes of reversing a prolapse. high cost in hopes of unproven gain.

My youngest weaned about 6 mos ago at age 3 -- I had been b/f for 9 years at that point - sorry to say no huge change in symptoms, but everything so much better by then since when noticed prolapse after his birth, that I didn't take note. I noticed a much bigger change in how I felt after he started walking at 17 mos. and I didn't have a baby to constantly carry around. So, imo, wouldn't wean to achieve relief. Marie

amanda

8 weeks is soooooo early on, pp wise. really. you probably should still be taking things easy, protecting your abdomen, etc even if you didn't have a prolapse. you're right, the body's been through quite an event. especially having babies so close together (which, btw, I think is awesome for the kids).

but
your body is not as fragile as it feels right now. the prolapse isn't going to break or rupture or pop. the damage is done. yes, there are things you can do to make it worse, like straining on the toilet or tons of crunches. but sex is good for prolapse! actually can push things (temporarily) back where they belong. anyway, pp sex can be anxiety-ridden. I think the tips here tend to include lots of lube and wine : )

I can't promise you what will be, no one knows that. but I can tell you that my prolapse was pretty bad. actually peeking out at its worst.
and now I live a normal life. I am in no way restricted by this. I carry my kids. I run around. I garden. I jump into swimming pools and ride roller coasters. I never was very athletic, but there are others here who are back to running, biking, horseback riding, etc.
I'm telling you, life is good. even with a prolapse. but to keep it real, know also that I watch my diet (avoiding constipation like the plague) and posture constantly. I do the firebreathing and nauli twice daily unless I have my period. I don't wear control top hose, or tight waisted clothing and I've stopped wearing heels for long periods of time.

the worst part of POP for me was coming to terms with it psychologically. the loss is real, the grief is real, and the mourning cannot be rushed along or pushed aside. but you'll get through it and come out the other side. I think you'll be ok. just take it one day at a time.

I also enjoy tracking my progress-- one day I will print out all my posts and be able to see chronological order how it all went down (and then maybe I will add my 'story').
re: brushing teeth- 1. in the shower 2. at the kitchen sink 3. deep second position squat 4. sitting down over a bowl (sit on toilet seat) 5. walking around outside

So glad you are feeling good. AND the great news is that it really does get even better!

amazing how quickly time flies by and how much we learn and grow and change.
I remember, quite clearly, typing out those words to you last November. only I could've sworn it was just a few months ago.
I'm really happy things are working out for you. it will continue to improve.
life is good!

Hi Amanda

Thanks for posting your progress. It will, I am sure, inspire others who are a few weeks postpartum.

Re cleaning your teeth, clean your teeth standing upright, then just bend from the hips to rinse. It is not like you are lifting a big load when you are rinsing your mouth out, and it's only a few seconds.

I think we need to use all the muscles we can when bending over. It is a natural movement, after all. The big problems happen when large intraabdominal forces are generated, that try and blow out the pelvic floor, eg picking up large loads that are in difficult positions. eg, to pick up something heavy that is under a bench I get down into flat kneeling, then bend forward from the hips and pull the box out with my arm muscles. My sacrum is locked down pretty hard to protect my pelvic area. Then I stand up, bend forward from the hips and lift mostly with my thighs and arms, with tummy and back muscles braced, keeping the load close to my body.

Re picking things up with your toes, what a wonderful way to do leg raises. Just try to do it with both feet so you don't get lop-sided. I remember now that I used to do that a lot when I was carrying babies and toddlers around. I must have developed great balance!

Cheers

Louise