New Aussie, Pregnant and now have a prolaspe of some sort, some questions.

Nicola

First off, welcome to this wonderful forum of fabulous women. I'm sorry this has happened to you.

Second, it sounds as if you're in panic. This is completely normal after what's happened to you - we've all spoken about the same fear we've experienced upon finding a prolapse. You are worried about the baby too and so I'd suggest taking some aconite (homeopathic remedy for fear) and arnica (for shock) to calm you down a little. Get them in the 30c potency and if you want details of how to take them, shout. Bach's rescue remedy also brilliant and none of these will hurt the baby (I'm a homeopath).

Third - implement the posture immediately. I have different problems to you but it has helped me. I wish I could advise you on whether to do the exercises or not but I have no experience in this area - perhaps you could email Christine and ask if she would know. Try and lift as little as you can to prevent putting any additional pressure on you.

Hopefully things will begin to settle down. Try and get some help. I don't know about you but I'm terrible at asking for it but it sounds like you really need some right now, especially with your 22 month old. When someone calls you asking if they can help, say yes please could you pick up some shopping for me?

As for the birth - my consultant has told me that if I am able to go on and have another baby, a section might not be the best thing to do. They do advise a section following the prolapse surgery. But, he has said that the baby would probably "fall out" because my cervix is so low and that the labour would be "very easy". Every cloud has a silver lining perhaps. There are some wonderful women on this site who've given birth vaginally with a prolapse - check their stories out. They have given me a lot of help and advice and support and they show that it IS absolutely possible. If you want help with where to locate them, shout.

Finally, try and stay calm and get as much help, advice and support as you can.
Wishing you well and take care Jxx

Nicola,

A quick one I've just thought of and a by the way......

I have no doubt that I'm suffering now because of my traumatic birth. But, I know that my posture wasn't the best during my pregnancy. I was really uncomfortable and I know I developed a slouch which perhaps didn't help things down there. If you implement that posture today - in terms of lift up and keep that back strong - you can hopefully encourage the cervix to go back. x

Dear Nicola,

Women have received scant information about pregnancy induced prolapse, but thankfully through the great equalizing power of the Internet, we are learning a lot about it from each other.

Of course keep an eye on the bleeding, but many bring pregnancy to term with intermittent spotting along the way. Your cervix should be completely raised out of your vagina by the beginning of the second trimester. However, if it persists your baby will continue to be completely safe inside.

I wouldn’t start any sort of new exercise program, including the one in the book. Perhaps a gentle prenatal yoga stretch class when things have stabilized a bit. Nicola, so much of this truly is about posture and I would slowly and calmly begin assimilating all the info we have here on the site.

All animals carry their pelvic organs very close to their lower abdominal wall. We stood up, yet continue to have an essentially horizontal spine! I know that sounds crazy, but our sacrum is completely horizontal and the rest of our spine did this marvelous contortion that allowed our upper body to remain vertical. Our pelvic “floor” is more vertical than horizontal, a reality doctors have completely missed due to their WRONG VIEW, which has consisted of looking at us in the lithotomy position for hundreds of years. In that position it looks like a floor. If you reach around to your backside, it becomes obvious the pelvic outlet is more like a wall than a floor.

Human females have a remarkable feat to accomplish: stand up, yet continue to keep the pelvic organs in the hollow of the lower belly just like our furry friends. This is made possible over the course of seventeen or eighteen years as the spinal and pelvic musculoskeleton and connective tissue supports all pull together into a miraculous self-locking system that keeps everything in place.

Through a lifetime of living in ways that keep our spine in flexion (tailbone tucked, lumbar curve flattened, upper spine humped) the organs move back from their positions near the lower belly to fall against the vaginal walls. The practice of gynecology, when considering causes of prolapse, just takes the scenario from there, focusing on stretched ligaments and vaginal wall “defects” through which the organs bulge. Very downstream thinking, but it has served them well.

So…what we must do is rotate our pelvis back into its correct position. There are descriptions of the posture in the FAQ section, and every aspect of it is essential. Don’t be afraid to walk – in fact mindful walking is the best way to incorporate the posture. It will take a while to assimilate, so just take it easy and alternate with lots of rest and good food. While lifting your toddler, keep your head in the same long line as the rest of your spine, bend down deeply with your knees over your toes (second position in ballet), stick your bottom out, and contract your pelvic “floor”. We have a very stable horizontal platform from which to move that is perfectly adapted to keep all our organs in place, we just don’t utilize it.

Wishing you well,

Christine

sorry Nicola...I read your post very quickly this a.m. and missed that you are well into the second trimester. Hopefully the rest applies...:-)

Hi Nicola,

I'm not an expert in this area, although I plan to be in the not-too-distant-future, as I'm seeking to become a certified childbirth educator.

I can't imagine anything in a prenatal yoga class that would be detrimental to you. Of course let your instructor know of your condition.

Yes, I would begin to incorporate the posture now. As you grow very large you probably won't be able to control much below your waist. I think it will be very helpful for you, though, to have learned the upper body posture and trained your feet to point straight ahead when you walk.

I hope you hear from others who either have experienced or support a gentle vaginal birth concept. I guess the first place to begin easing your mind is in contemplating the fact that the cervix does not push down, but rather pulls UP as the baby slides out.

I've been thinking today what a terrible thing it is that the very concept or even the term "PUSH" was ever applied to the birthing scenario. Everyone knows that "straining" is always a bad thing when it comes to bowels. I can't imagine who decided it was okay for birthing women.

I sent you an email...please let me know if you don't receive it.

:-) Christine

Hi Nicola,
I was in the same situation that you are in right now. I was about 14-15 weeks pregnant when I noticed something is bulging down there. It improved over night and it came back during the day. The doctor told me to rest a lot with a pillow under my knees, and she also told me it would go away later, when the uteres got bigger, she said “the baby would lift it”.
My prolapse really improved later during the pregnancy. In 20th - 24th week of pregnancy and until the end of my pregnancy it was imperceptible. I delivered my baby naturaly (I avoided lithotomy birth position and episiotomy). C-section didn't even cross my mind. However the prolaps came back after the delivery and it wasn't worse than I experienced during the first trimester of my pregnancy.
I didn't get satisfactory information and advice from the doctors, so I ended up searching on the internet and luckily I found this wonderful website and Christine's brliliant work. Saving the whole woman gave me all the answers I needed and precious advice on managing my prolapse. The most valuable thing for me is that these women here gave me a good mind to live a full-feature life, I have gotten the emotional support that I couldn't find anywhere else.
Wishing you well and take care.

Hi Nicola

Welcome to the site. So glad you persevered with your searching. There are a few women from Oz who use this site (I'm in York, WA). If you click on my username at the top of this posting you will be taken to my profile. You can email me from there, then I can tell you the little I know of who we all are. Or else change your profile so you can accept emails, and I'll email you. Whatever you like. It sounds like you were able to buy Saving the Wholewoman reasonably easily. Maybe it is becoming more available in Oz? Gotta be good news if it is. So glad you have had a few quick replies on the Forum. Hopefully you are a little more reassured now.

Cheers

Louise

Sorry, now you can email me. I must see if I can order it for our local library.

Louise

Nicola,

i am also in Oz - Perth and I had the same problem with my second pregnancy. Dont push your cervix back in, it will rise the bigger your uterus gets through the pregnancy. I stopped lifting my first son at 2 - I wasnt pregnant - sorry, everyone, had just had repairs (wont be going there again) but my uterus went up around 20 weeks and I felt better for a while. I only say a while because I had severe pelvic seperation but most women feel good once that uterus and cervix have moved up.

Hope this helps,

H

Thanks SO much for posting! Are you managing the aftermath of your suspension okay?

Christine,

By suspension I assume you mean burch? I did not have a uterine suspension/colpopexy. But I do suffer urgency from the burch. I use tens to calm the bladder irritability and that works for a couple of years and then i repeat the process. I just manage my prolapse and life in the best way I know how to - I cant change the past, so like all the women on this site, Im trying to get along with the prolapse and look after my two boys.

But there arent many of us from Oz so its nice (well, you know what I mean!!!) when they arrive here. I have lurked on the site for a long time and never posted - until recently. But this site is well suited to my current mindset about my prolapse, if that makes sense.

Thanks, Christine.

HT

Oh H, you're in the same boat as me. :-( That it was ever deemed okay to use that horrendous operation on healthy women is just incomprehensible. I'll never forget the words of my surgeon when he talked to me the morning following my surgery and said he'd tucked my bladder up "real good." Peeing has been a fight ever since. God bless you!

Hi Nicole,
I love this site too. I have found a lot of helpful advice.
My prolapse accured about 3-4 weeks after the birth of my third child. Then I waited for my PP appointment with my doctor. It was hard to accept the reality. I had cried for weeks. I was urged to undergo the surgery. The doctor told me to stop breastfeeding than wait 3-4 months and set up the surgery. But I wanted to nurse my baby so I decided to postpone the surgery at least one year. About 3 months after the birth of my baby I'v got a pessary. It was very hard to manage everything around the baby and house, but my husband and two older kids have helped me with everything that should effect my prolaps.

A woman's organism experiences many changes during a pregnancy and after the birth. Those changes effect prolapse. I had felt the symptoms of prolapse worse and also I hadn't felt comfortable with the pessary while I was nursing. I stoped nursing when my baby was 14 months old, and I had waited for 7 months for improvement of my symptoms. But nothing vigorous happend. About that time I found Christine's book and her web site. I began to exercise, I'v changed my diet, I'v watched my posture more, I'v paid special attention to keep regular BM. I felt improvement within two months. My “bad days” are period days now and the rest of the month is pretty manageable. I avoid heavy lifting and activities that make my prolapse worse, like moping, heavy lifting, vacuming (It doesn't meen I don't do them anymore.If my husband can't help me I clean the floor on my four better than with the mop, and I pay attention to my posture). If I am going to have a busy day I wear the pessary. I usualy wear the pessary during the day, never at night. I always take the pessary out before BM. During calm and quiet days I don't wear it at all.

A prolapse changes every woman. There are always restrictions for a woman with a prolapse. But I believe that prolapse is manageable in some way, it requires discipline, changing life style and daily routine, and following certain principles. I believe this way I can live more valuable life filled with more activities then I would live after reconstructive surgery with lifelong after surgery restrictions, complications and mysterious risks. The process of learning how to live with the prolapse maybe is lengthy, but is better for my body (and spirit too) than the reconstructive surgery.
Take care.

Hi Nicola,

I'm so glad your symptoms have vanished! Your doctor speaks the truth...your lower abdominal wall is part of your pelvic organ support system through which c-section creates permanent damage. I hope you will buy the book "Birthing From Within" by Pam England. It is a marvelous resource for women just like you.

:-) Christine

Is Burch the same as "uterine suspension/colpopexy"? And what was the reason for the "Burch" you had? What kind of prolapse is yours?
What is a Burch or what was your particular Burch for? Sorry I am just confused.
And what are "tens" you used to calm the bladder irritability?
Thanks, NoraB