New Here

Submitted by Crowdedhouse on September 22, 2014 - 4:34pm
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I am new to the sisterhood of prolapse. Not so excited about that, but happy to have found WW.

I had my second child almost 5 months ago. I had an attempted natural birth and VBAC that both sadly ended in c-sections, this last one emergent. My son and daughter were both almost 11 pounds. My son was born 8 years ago and I have since having him, always had some slight urinary incontinence. It wasn't enough to worry me and of course I knew nothing about prolapse at the time. With my recent pregnancy, I started out doing kegals and then gave up (because I HATE them) thinking I was going to get the In-Tone after this pregnancy to fix the incontinence.

About 4-5 weeks postpartum I had a look with a mirror to see how things were looking since I was having a lot of pressure that reminded me of the pressure I had when carrying my daughter. What I saw was alarming to me. All of a sudden there was no more opening...just a lot of pink tissue that I didn't recall being there before. I didn't know what had happened and so I started googling. This of course led me to believe I had experienced a prolapse. I went to the Drs office and saw the nurse pratitiioner who did an exam and said nothing was wrong. I told her I was concerned about prolapse. She checked visually both with a speculum and without and also digitally and said I was worried about nothing. She did however refer me to another nurse in the practice who was their sort of "expert" on the In-Tone. I saw her and they suggested the Apex for me and said it would help the incontinence and possibly any prolapse I may have. This nurse at least seemed to get that examining me laying down would likely not show anything and she believed me telling me her story of having a hysterectomy at 37 because of her prolapse.

After more thinking and researching I decided to hold off on the Apex since it seemed counter-productive to helping the prolapse based on what I have read. I ordered the Prolapse First Aid DVD from here and started trying my best to hold the WW posture. Its hard and I feel as though I forget a lot.

Fast forward to today and I feel like over the last 1-1.5 weeks my prolapse has become worse. I am not 100%, but I believe I have cystocele and possibly a rectocele. I can view everything close to the vaginal opening, but it is not hanging out...yet. I have a lot of pressure again and it is very uncomfortable.

I am exclusively breastfeeding and have already started my cycle back. I just completed it a week ago and feel that both times I had my period since, the prolapse is worse the week after. This time, it has been over a week and its still worse. I am sad and scared. I haven't been able to do the DVD workout yet and have only been trying to sit and stand properly and recently added walking (actually last week). I feel the walking hasn't helped either, but I don't want to stop. I have excess weight I need to lose and I feel losing that will only help the prolapse and my state of mind.

I have read that some women who are postpartum see an improvement when they don't find a prolapse until after birth. I don't know for sure if I had one after my son or not...but I know if I did I couldn't see it nor did I have any discomfort or sign anything was wrong. I am VERY hopeful that this improvement will happen for me.

I guess all this is to say I am here and scared. Any words of encouragement or advise would be very welcome. You all seem to know so much and I see so many positive posts about what WW has done for you. I hope it will work for me too.

Anyone have thoughts about using the Apex at all? I am concerned it will hinder the WW work and possibly make things worse. Also, any ideas on why I would suddenly have my symptoms become worse? Lastly, some advice on doing visual checks. I have a tendency to look daily. I can't help myself...thinking if its worse I want to know and if its better I want to know. However, on days when I have a reduction of symptoms but then check and it doesn't LOOK better, I get upset. If I feel good but the look and it looks the same or worse I tend to let that dictate how I feel and then sometimes I feel it makes me FEEL the pressure. How often do you all check to keep an eye on things? I feel like I need to know what's going on and see when there is improvement so I know I am doing things right...but what's too much?

Thank you in advance and sorry for the long post.

CrowdedHouse

Forum:

Aging gracefully

September 23, 2014 - 6:38am

Hi crowded house and welcome,
You are still pretty early in your postpartum recovery. It can take up to two years to completely heal from having a a baby. Your symptoms could just resolve on their own, but it is always good to adopt whole woman posture into your life. Your body will greatly appreciate it. Whole woman work can also help you in your recovery and alleviate the symptoms you are having. Read about Christine's work, it is amazing!
I had to look up this Apex device, but I am seeing that it is based on, like so many false cures, our bodies having a pelvic floor, a basket that all our organs sit in waiting to escape. This is a false premise that you will learn through Christine's teachings. Our organs are actually held up into the lower belly with intrabdominal pressure with each breath we take. This is accomplished with whole woman posture.
Read around, learn about whole woman work. It has been a life saver for so many of us.

p.s. Stop checking! That will only drive you crazy. I can't say I didn't take a look from time to time, but constantly looking at your bulges isn't going to make them go away or help your peace of mind. Just delve into this work, relax and enjoy that little baby.

Crowdedhouse

September 23, 2014 - 8:30am

Thank you so much for your words. I did the first routine on the DVD yesterday (well, until the baby woke up). Even though I didn't get to complete it I swear it did make me feel better. I found the sitting position on top of your legs with them underneath you very comfortable. I tried sitting this way last night as long as I could and then laid down. This morning I have the usual AM relief following a long spell of being horizontal. So far today I feel okay and so I am going to try keep that attitude as long as possible. I feel like any day where I am symptom-free even 30 minutes longer is a positive step.

I think I will pass on the Apex as my understanding was the same as yours. I think its much more of a pelvic muscle exerciser and doesn't really address the issues that WW does. I am going to concentrate on this work instead.

On the checking front...thank you! I know in my head this is what I should do...STOP LOOKING!