stupid question

Submitted by lyricmama on August 12, 2009 - 11:45am
Body: 

Hey Ladies,
As some of you may know, I am one of those women who are convinced I have a prolapse, but have been told "NO your fine" by their doctor. Here's the weird thing: My prolapses have disapeared recently (I'm 7 months postpartum). When I check while squatting I can sort of see inside the vagina(as to be expected when your in that postition) but there are no bulges. When I check while lying down there is nothing. Sex feels exactly the same. I have no incontinence, and no feelings of unemptied bowels anymore. I also would like to note that I gave up dairy, so maybe I felt constipated before because of my diet.
It seems as though my vagina was a lot like my postpartum belly. My belly was totally huge after my baby was born, especially after I ate, but I didn't have a hernia. There aren't any internal organs slipping through fascia,just a floppier belly. I think the same was true of my vagina. There was no damage to fascia, just a lot of floppiness. A true rectocele, cystocele is the result of holes in fascia right? I picture someone stepping on a carpet covering a hole in the floor. You would sink through the hole, but the entire floor isn't saggy. I feel like in my case it's more like your stepping on the top of a tent. The entire tent is going to sink, because it's all made of cloth. Does that make sense? I feel like my entire vagina was stretched, and now that it is healing it is more or less normal. Is that possible? I'm so frustrated, because the only people who seem to know ANYTHING about this are you guys! But there seem to be a lot of women who are freaking out about things that are totally normal. I remember how awful that anxiety felt when my baby was little, and I know that there are so many new mommies experiencing it right now!

louiseds

August 12, 2009 - 9:53pm

Hi Lyricmama

This is exactly the story we are all delighted to hear! It is exactly as you say, and I hope that our postpartum members will read it and be further reinforced as to the way the female body *really* recovers after pregnancy and birth, rather than the 6 weeks that we are led to believe by *many of* our Obs is the time it takes.

I used to take in information from experts on pregnancy, labour, birth, raising babies, gardening, making jam and almost anything else, like a sponge and try and reconcile it with reality. Sometimes it reconciled. Sometimes it didn't. Now I am older and wiser I look for evidence for everything before I take it as the truth. Evidence is good, but there is always variation on normal, so nothing is absolutely correct.

Once you get a group of really experienced people in a room (Forum) together, comparing their personal experiences, you realise that there is a bell curve of results for anything, and information that is incorrect is soon identified, and replaced with a more real set of facts and trends.

We pay doctors and other health professionals a lot of money, so we expect the truth to come pouring out. It does come pouring out, but it comes with a lot of BS as well. Our challenge is sort it all out. If we put our health in the hands of any person other than ourselves (as opposed to holding hands with them) we are giving ourselves away. Everything else in our lives we can delegate to others. It is only our bodies that are with us until the moment we die.

Here's to understanding what really happens!

BTW, I think the reason we uncover reality so well is that we are all hidden behind our keyboards, so we can deal with TMI without embarrassment. We can go to the places that face to face conversation never goes. Keyboards have their shortcomings, but they are really good for this type of filtering.

Cheers

Louise

bad_mirror

August 12, 2009 - 11:37pm

Lyricmama, I am so glad you posted this! How wonderful that you are feeling normal again -- is the singing going well too? I remember you were a bit worried about that. I just love your analogy, too. I wish a midwife, or doctor, or whatever, had explained postpartum prolapse to me like that!