i need help and direction

mine's not smooth, but ridged like you describe. honestly, I don't know if its a cystocele or urethrocele but you manage it much the same way anyhow.
obviously I cant diagnose you, but assuming what you have is a prolapse of bladder and/or urethra, you'll be happy to know that both having babies and sex is entirely possible. some of us even find that sex is helpful in terms of pushing things back into place.

so take a deep breath (I know how stressful it is to find a prolapse, having been there) and know that there's plenty you can do about it.
read up on the posture and learn it. the point of the posture is to position your pelvic organs in a more stable place and to keep them there.
avoid constipation like the plague, never ever strain on the toilet (this puts too much pressure on your pelvic organs).

I'm sure others will chime in with more advice, so stick around

by the way, how old is your baby now?

I have ridges towards the opening and a smooth slight bulge when my bladder is really full. Sometimes, usually when I am excercising the ridges move up and are pretty firm. I think this is all of my organs moving up. This is a huge improvement from before when I was immediately postpartum.

As for sex...I am able to orgasm more easily since I've had prolapse. It seems my sweet spot is more accessible. Sorry if that is TMI

I am new to all this and no expert, but my rectocele has ridges. So...maybe it is a rectocele? Christine has a prolapse self exam link on here if you need it. It is in the Library section. She has photos also for each one. I am not 100% sure, but I think since the picture appears to show the person laying down, maybe that is why the ridges are not visable. I personally only do a self exam while on the toilet, better gravity, LOL.....anyway hope this helps.

Mamato2boys...I agree, sex has been better. Orgasm easier, I think it is due to the shift in the g-spot. Mine sits more toward the opening now....

There are some pics at this link:
http://www.gyndr.com/genital_prolapse_surgery.php
Some are pretty full on so beware!
The 3rd and fourth pics show variation of ridges with anterior vaginal wall prolapses. Also, vaginas have great variation as far as texture...some are very ridgey and some are very smooth in comparison.

or don't look....I just did
it was a bit scary.
I don't know about everyone who comes here- but my prolapse looks NOTHING like those in the photos.
I'm pretty sure these photos are taken right before surgery and that they have 'moved things around a bit' to make for a better photo opportunity.
Maybe that's just me- and maybe I'm just cynical.
but I think the pictures in the self exam document and in the introduction video are more realistic of most.....

Mya, I have a st patricks day baby! So just over a year here as well-this year just flew right on by- I can not believe it! Our sweet baby is walking all around and talking all the time- funny guy.

I've been to this page before I found this site. I was searching for info before I could get into my doc appt when I found my prolapses and that was one of the sites I found. Talk about freaking a person out! However, my rectocele looks EXACTLY like the rectocele they show. BUT....the other photos, WOW....that is what is burned in my memory most of the time. That that is a possibility to happen. However, I do feel after finding out more, & I think Christine even says this, that the cystocele and rectocele act as a pessary & if I don't undergo surgery and have hysterectomy, my chances are just that much greater to NEVER have a complete vaginal prolapse.

That rectocele picture is pretty big for someone lying down- can you imagine what it would be like if she stood up?
I bet you they reached in there and pulled it down more for the picture

No, my rectocele only looks this way while sitting on the toilet, checking with mirror. Which is how I found it originally. Total shocker!!! I have looked while laying down also and it is not very visable at all, more like the pic in Christine's self exam guide. I remember thinking, how am I gonna show this to the Dr? She's gonna be like, nope nothing there. LOL Funny stuff looking back.....ok sorta funny in the fact that I had no clue about anything.

*shivers thinking about it* - I guess I'm not as secure about my present POP (read, wimpy) as I pretend to be because those are the very types of photo links that I avoid viewing like the plague for fear of the nightmares that they might induce. Having tripped over them during my first ever google session on prolapse, it took a while before I stopped obsessing about what the future might bring. --For me, with this, ignorance is bliss. = ; )

Blissfully,
~♥ Blue

I agree with the advice of "just not looking!". I am about 10months into my prolapse (rectocele), and I stopped looking for the past 5 months. I did so much better! I think I am used to how my "new body" feels, and I take care of myself to keep things stable so I got back to my life and exercise routine without that fear I was holding on to.....then I took a peek about a week ago, no worse for the wear but still freaked out enough I didn't move again for the week. Now I was fine with life before that!! Ugh...the mental agony is worse than the physical sometimes.

Hi Mya

The vagina has to be pretty ridgey because it is a long, relatively thin tube most of the time, but there needs to be enough surface area for it to be able to change into a short fat tube when a baby comes through it. Think about Pantihose. On the washing line they are wrinkly and short. When on your legs they are smooth and fat.

If your uterus is in normal position, tilted forwards, with the cervix coming out of the front vaginal wall it kind of compresses the front vaginal wall into wrinkles. They are called rugae. If you have a seriously retroverted uterus (which is well-correlated with prolapse), the cervix will come out of the back vaginal wall. The front vaginal wall will be kind of stretched over the top, and smoother. You will have more wrinkles down the back vaginal wall.

Get onto elbows and knees with your butt up in the air, and your vagina will become very deep a your uterus sinks towards your navel. Most of the wrinkles will simply straighten out. This vagina of yours is an amazingly adaptable piece of work. I guess as I get older and wrinklier all over I am becoming less worried about the idea of getting wrinkly. Hey, they are only wrinkles. But isn't the human body awesome!

(Prolapse of any sort is kind of like a big, fat wrinkle where a lot of the little bits of fascia that pinned it back have broken or stretched. Think basset hound vis a vis charpei.)

Louise