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Welcome:) I can hear the strain and confusion in your voice and unfortunately have no concrete answer for you as to the 'why'. From what I can tell, many of the women here begin to make connections about possible causative factors after they get into the work and incorporate WW into their lives. Other times there is no real cause found and that really sucks, no two ways about it. Please don't beat yourself up though...chances are it is nothing you did and for whatever reason the planets (and your pelvis;) have aligned to bring you here. I am sorry you have reason to join the women here but there is SO much hope and help for you. 8 wks is very, very early and your potential for improvement is simply massive.
Read all you can...maybe try a search for 'lifting' since you mentioned that already and go from there...

Hi Bea

You are only 8 weeks pp and your POPs may get worse over the next few months, before starting to recover properly. This is the paradox of postpartum POP. It really does start to get better, but not until somewhere between 3 months and 9 months pp, then it will continue to improve significantly until 2 years pp, with further subtle improvements in the following years. So if it does get worse, be reassured that it is normal, and just part of the process. We don't know why it happens, but it does.

I guarantee that following this post, you will get several comments from women who have gone on to have one or more babies after diagnosis of quite serious POP. These will not be discouraging posts!

You just have to get your vulnerable heart, head and body through the next few months. Count off the sleeps if you must, but it will improve.

You know you are managing your POP well when you wake up one day and realise that the paralysing fear that walked in your shadow 24/7 is no longer stalking you. You might not think this is possible, but you will eventually reach that point. It is a wonderful feeling.

Now lift those lovely milky boobies. Show them off and be proud of the amazing job you have done and continue to do. And love your family as they love you, and always will.

Louise

Hey Bea, it won't get any worse than it is right now :)
Really! You are here, you are learning about wholewoman and how to stabilize and reverse your prolapse.
In fact, it's going to get better.
Wait, how early postpartum are you? It might get worse for a bit- lots of us have a harder time around 12 weeks postpartum. But then it really does get better.
The great news is that you have natures pessary. Your cystocele is supporting your rectocele and visa versa. So it's not going to fall out like a balloon between your legs.
And, just so ya know, I feel just as good now with 4 births behind me as I did with 3- I bet most of the damage is already done- more pregnancies won't make it any worse.
You are gonna be feeling so good in a few years you will have the confidence to reconsider....for now just focus on healing.

Thank you so much for joining our conversation, Bea!

It probably wasn’t the heavy lifting, or even the birth itself, that resulted in your symptoms as much as the 4 weeks postpartum of allowing the collapse of your pelvic organ support system. It’s not your fault, as this information is unknown to both gynecology and midwifery alike. “Do yer kegels” are the only words ever muttered regarding the prevention of prolapse.

It’s not too late! You will reverse your symptoms just as so many have before you. You have read the stories and will now validate them with your own experience.

Rejoice!

:) Christine

hi there bea
only have a few min but wanted to jump in
I've had two more babies (4 and 5) since finding my prolapse, and I am no worse off for it. in fact, my POP is smaller, less noticeable than it was before I got pg (with number 4) and I am 99% asymptomatic. rather I should say I am completely asymptomatic 99% of the time. just get a bit bulgy round my period. but at least then I know its coming!
like alemama said, its going to get better. and dont give up your dreams of growing your family. take some time to stabilize this prolapse and build confidence in your body. you'll know its happened when you start talking about adding another baby to the mix. you'll get there.
(((hugs)))

I was 28 when I discovered my prolapse, and it was soooo hard to believe that it would get better. Now, 2 years later I am seriously considering pregnancy. My symptoms are mostly gone.

Please, do not give up hope! I guess, 2 months pp is too early to see improvement, but you really should just practice the posture and believe in your body and its ability to heal.

Hugs
Liv

Hi Bea

Don't you believe it. There is a way around every task. Are we talking a large commercial chicken farm? Are we talking deep litter with lots of straw or a heap that has accumulated under battery cages? Are we talking confined spaces? I am guessing that using more strokes of a smaller shovel or fork would help. Or hoeing it out to a more convenient position for shovelling.

The obtuse angle thing is about keeping your butt out the back so it remains tilted forwards. That way you can keep the angle with the legs acute.

And most important of all is to use your strong leg and butt muscles, and only twist once you are upright. Learn to use the shovel or fork without engaging your rectus abdominus muscles too much. Engaging your abs will push your organs backwards, then you are 'stuffed'. Transverse abdominals and obliques are useful muscles. The trick is learning to isolate them the right way so as to keep your organs forward of your centre of gravity, and avoid that pressure feeling in the vulva.

Having said all that, I wouldn't want to be shovelling horse and chicken poo all day, every day. Part of managing POP is understanding that there are some jobs that are not good for POPs. We might have gotten away with it when our bodies were less damaged, but not with a chronic injury like POP. You could do a bit every day, but don't overdo it. A footballer with a dicky knee might be OK at training, but he wouldn't play a whole match twice a week. That would be stupid. Likewise for a woman shovelling poo.

Hopefully these ideas will help. We just have to be resourceful and think laterally sometimes. If there were some slave chooks in the shed that you could let loose, I am sure that they would scratch it over and loosen it all up for you. :-)

Louise

My main symptom when I first discovered my prolapse was pressure and aching. It got worse if I was on my feet for a while- doing something like making dinner or cleaning house. The day the midwife came to do my 6 week apt (at about 8 weeks I think) I had been in the kitchen all day- and told her I just wanted to lie down on the floor- that is when she told me about the bulge- and I learned to relate that symptom to prolapse as well.
Many things I did were a problem at first- perhaps that was because I was so early postpartum.
That was after my third baby was born. He's almost 4 now and we have another baby- he's almost a year and a half.
In the past 4 years I have gone from getting in bed the minute my dh got home all the way to camping, running for up to an hour a few days a week, weight lifting, power kiting, kayaking, bike riding, swimming, teaching creative movement classes to children, climbing the rope in our back yard, wearing my baby in my back, throwing my 45lbs son in the pool, really anything I could think of to want to do, all with absolutely none of my previous symptoms. I have also learned a good deal about quality rest, picking my battles, and knowing my limitations.
You'll get here! It's early days for you:)
(but if I had to be completely honest....I would leave to poo to my dh- not cause I couldn't do it- but cause I would rather do something else....similar to how I let him take care of the lawn and the garbage)

Hi Bea

Yes, I jump and dance and run too, but not as competitively as I think Alemama does, but she's not 57 either!

I have a confession to make. DH and I disagree about the number and size of holes I ask him to dig, and piles of soil and bricks and rocks I would like him to help me with. So I decided that I needed a husband substitute of sorts. We have purchased a secondhand mini-digger, which is narrow enough to go through a garden gate or house door (Yes, we can use it inside the house too!) It has a bucket, a small ripping blade, a carryall and a towbar. This will free me up from a lot of the heavy stuff that ends up being on my list of things to do.

There comes a point where I decide what I will do, and what I really need some help for. That has been my head shift. So far, in the month we have had it, DH has used it more than I have used it. This has meant that I have not had to do heavy lifting to help him with tasks that are too heavy/cumbersome for him to do by himself! I can usually figure out ways of doing things on my own, by planning it carefully and working slowly, and in the right position for me, and as slowly as I need to. The problems often arise for me when I am working with DH, who seems to want to do things at his pace, and in his way, even though I am the one with the POPs. Then I suffer. No more.

Louise

when I got pregnant again I had to stop doing nauli and firebreathing. Then my cystocele that had gone away completely relaxed a bit and I had that half pipe in the front wall again- my cervix stayed very high- but in the early days if I put my fingers in my vagina and on top of my fundus on the outside -I could feel the fullness of my uterus in my vagina (does this make sense to you?- I bet aza could explain it better). Once I popped forward and out this fullness disappeared- then returned in the last months
It didn't bother me and I think had I not had the awareness (that I developed since having prolapse) I would never have even noticed.
The nice thing about the whole arrangement was that the fullness of the anterior wall came in to meet the posterior wall and gave good support the entire pregnancy.
After the baby was born I realized I tore (again). My recovery was very similar to the other births- not nearly as traumatic as the first birth. I had tons of help with the older kids and with the house. I stayed in bed with the baby as much as I could and we bonded beautifully without a thought to the prolapse. Somewhere around 3 months (and this is all from memory- and remember I have 4 kids and a bit of brain fog) my business ran a summer camp for a week. I was there every day all day - wearing my baby and taking care of 50 kids. I was exhausted but my pop felt fine. The cystocele was gone again. Compare that to three months pp with the third and I would say it was much easier. Over the next year my rectocele bulge reduced to higher and smaller than it was even after the third birth.
So expect to bulge and feel some ache in the early weeks postpartum- maybe to feel even worse at about 12 weeks- and then to gradually get better and better for years after :)
You know, at some point I decided that pelvic laxity was intentional. That may sound crazy- but in a similar way that as we age we wrinkle and sag- men's testicles hang low, and even our hearts sit lower in our bodies, I figure that the postpartum vagina has a wisdom of it's own. I may not understand it- or even like it- but I know for a fact that it happens to every single woman after having a baby. It's just the degree of relaxation that is different and of course the recovery.

I know that unattractive feeling- I hate being postpartum. My belly is all slack and I feel exhausted all the time, and I get a touch to postpartum crazy stuff and then people are so helpful and ask when the baby is due. blah- all I can tell you is that it does pass. You will tighten back up-
I like to wear plunging necklines and A-line tops- that fit loose in the middle and tight around the top. I figure people won't be able to get past the boobs to see the belly. Keep in the posture- you may feel unattractive now - but there is nothing like feeling bulge free- belly or not.

Alemama - I think we have another ace-in-the-hole regarding natural prolapse. At least one study I know of - a twins study - reveals that women who have never given birth vaginally are more susceptible to urinary incontinence as they age. This does not surprise us, who know a bulgy vagina clamps the urethra shut. However, it flies in the face of the reconstructive surgeons who are trying to prove that c-section prevents prolapse. Maybe so, but it may also interfere with the long-term, healthy maturing of pelvic anatomy, which has selected for vaginal birth. :)

'A bulgy vagina clamps the urethra shut'
Now what a catchy phrase, I love it, sort of rings through my head like 'The early bird catches the worm' !
I think your description of what you felt in early pregnancy and the fullness of your uterus in your vagina is spot-on, alemama. It is truly amazing the strength of the supportive structures to be able to hold that massive organ and baby and fluid up and into the belly!

hi im a new 42 year old
on the 13 of august i had rectocele and cystocele surgery,to which i woukd like to say was a complete disaster, im 4 weeks post op and still suffering as a result of the surgeon cutting a vein.
im just wondering if any one knows the answer to this..........
is the rectocele prolapse repaired via cutting the internal vaginal wall or the perineum or both?