10 weeks postpartum and think I have a prolapse!

Hi Augustina and welcome to WW. Post-partum prolapse is extremely common and sometimes resolves on its own. But even if it does, it will more than likely be back later in your life. Ask us post-menopausal types, we know whereof we speak.

So yes, please do adopt the posture, because posture is the thing. If you can nail that, and learn to do it all the time (your body will sort of take over after awhile if you work towards that goal), that is the hardest but most important thing. I have no idea what your midwife will say; that will depend on her training and experience. If you seek her opinion, I guess you will find out! But you are right about the Kegels, and I am living proof of that myself.

What's bad about couches is that we tend to slump back into them, flattening lumbar curvature and sending our organs directly into the vaginal space. So protecting that curvature as much as possible is important. When I drive I stuff something behind my lower back.

If you are in excellent WW posture, wearing your babe is actually quite beneficial because the extra weight-loading helps close off the vagina against the intruding organs. But again....posture is what makes this happen.

You want to do your bending from the hips, not the waist (again - think LUMBAR CURVATURE - this is what pins the organs over the pubic bones). Keep the load close to your body when lifting.

I would definitely get the book and the basic DVD, First Aid for Prolapse. Or you can get the book and then go for a subscription to Destination Prolapse Free which has recently been upgraded to include streaming of ALL Christine's DVDs. There are also some great bundles in the Store. I personally worked strictly from the book for my entire first year, and added to my collection over time until I had everything. Newbies definitely should have First Aid for Prolapse.

Good luck on this wondrous journey and remember that you have LOTS of company! Enjoy your little one. - Surviving

Hi and welcome Dear Augustina,
You don't need to arch your back - part of the posture is belly breathing which pulls the lumbar spine forward with every breath, and pulling the pelvic organs forward into the relaxed lower belly.
When standing relax your lower belly and pull the chest up strongly and sit down like that, with your bottom to the back of the couch/ chair. Your chest will be already strongly pulled up - shoulders down, not back and upper back flat, chin tucked slightly which keeps the back of the head up.

As long as you use the posture while standing walking and sitting, it should be fine to lie on your side while nursing ( feeding ) your baby.
An alternative, while sitting, would be to stack pillows on top of your lap so that you can have the baby higher up and support your lumbar curve with a cushion or rolled up towel, and then you don't have to look down bending your neck so much to see your little one - I used to get such a sore neck from doing that ( long before Whole woman).
You could recline on your side with baby on pillows and if you wish have the lumbar curve supported and relax your belly.
With other sitting you can practice the posture without supporting your lumbar curve, and when tired you can lie down and rest or sit using support. I used to use a rolled up knitted scarf, but now have enough torso strength to sit unaided for longer.
As your baby develops, notice how they have perfect alignment with their head and upper back when they can sit unaided and then stand walk and jump using their toes, developing their lumbar curve and foot arches. They will have a relaxed lower belly and strongly pulled up chest when standing. This is the posture we all developed in infancy and lose with slouchy furniture, tight clothes, tight inflexible shoes and exercise styles that straighten the spine, pull in the stomach making us chest breath and tuck in the bottom changing the position of the hip joints, making our internal organs squashed and vulnerable to prolapse.
The more you ground yourself in Whole Woman, you will be realize that it is unique and other methods are not the same, even if there are any similar traits, as when you explore them further they differ.
If you search "posture" & other words/phrases in the search box you will find more threads exploring posture, and other questions you may have, and feel free to ask for more pointers if you wish.
Wishing you all the best,
Aussie Soul Sister

You will need to do your own research and make your own decision on how to spend your limited funds. You can use the search to find lots of posts where Hab-It has been discussed. This is a Kegel-based program, for starters. If you have not read Christine's blog articles on that subject, please go over to the Blog tab, put "kegel" in the search box on the right side of the screen, and these articles will come up. Hab-It also promotes a more "neutral" spine and pelvis, not the full extension that is required to restore lumbar curvature and create the space you need in the lower belly to house the organs away from the vagina. Hab-It subscribes to the traditional medical model of the pelvis as a basket of organs with a hole at the bottom which needs to be tightened to keep things in. Christine has taught us the true anatomy of prolapse and I can personally vouch for the failure of a kegel-based approach. If kegels helped prolapse, I think we'd all have figured that out by now!! - Surviving

There is no difference. A cystocele is a bladder prolapse, and kegels aren't going to do anything to alleviate those symptoms. Whole woman posture is what does that. Through whole woman work, you can help move your bladder up over the pubic bone into/toward your lower belly where it belongs. But, also remember that you just had a baby, and some of that healing may pull your bladder back up to where it belongs. In the meantime, read more about whole woman, work on posture, and enjoy that little baby of yours.

Yes AG is correct, and PLEASE read Christine's kegel articles:
https://wholewoman.com/blog/?p=1497
https://wholewoman.com/blog/?p=118

Augustina, a prolapse diagnosis is a snapshot at best....and it's also extremely subjective. I've never even had one. They don't mean much; the organs are always moving. SH has a good theory as to what she may have meant (prolapse = uterine prolapse in her book) but clearly she knows nothing about prolapse, so your decision to seek further wisdom from her should be made on that basis. - Surviving

If your midwife doesn't consider cystocele or rectocele prolapse, then she probably doesn't have a real clear understanding of what the actual pelvic support system is, and you may find her answers disappointing. You will find from reading Christine's work that whole woman posture is what helps your pelvic organs move into the lower belly where they belong, instead of sitting in a basket or pelvic floor at the bottom of your body.
Getting a really good understanding of actual pelvic organ support would be the next best step for you. And, I would also give your midwife a link to this site, so she can get a better understanding of that as well.

A link to the site. The doctors will hsve their eyes opened for sure and learn so much!

There have been women who have told their doctors about whole woman, and even some who brought their books into them. Some were receptive to the work, but not all want to spend that much time on it. They have had their own education that they choose to follow, but if they end up saying to you that they don't have a problem with the work, I guess that's progress in the medical field.

Just read what you can on this site for now, Augustina. There is enough information here to get you started, and then when you can afford more materials look into it. I bought each thing one at a time, first the book, then the first aid for prolapse, and added each thing as I went along. I didn't even get the baton for quite awhile. Also, I have heard of some women saying that they found a copy of saving the whole woman in the library. Probably not too many libraries carry it at this point, but it might be worth looking into.
Please don't be so hard on yourself, you have time to heal after having your baby, actually up to 2 years, and take this work slowly. Just start with the elements of posture as best as you can, and work on the rest as it comes up.
Best wishes to you.

Those of us who have had our lives transformed by this work, have a duty and responsibility to help get the word out, and that is why we are here. A vast amount of information has been generously made available, here on this website and on the YouTube channel, wholewomaninc. That being said, our biggest responsibility of all is to support the efforts of Christine and Lanny who have sacrificed hugely to bring this message to the world, and who keeping fighting every day against great odds. We have said many times that we must each do this work for ourselves. We must also support this work in every way we can. My primary responsibility is to Whole Woman, and secondarily, to the women who come here in need of direction, and that is how it always shall be. - Surviving