How do I know if something I am doing is doing damage?

Body: 

Good morning -

I am slowly trying to get myself to be more active and have tried walking a little more often. I went swimming the other day and everything seemed to fair quite well. I was reading some of the other posts that say that doing the whipkick in the breaststroke will put unwanted pressure on the pelvic floor, but I tried to pay attention to what I was feeling and didn't feel any discomfort. There was a little soreness in the pubic area, where my legs meet the pubic bone. I am not sure if this is because of the prolapse or because I am still healing from pushing out a 9.5 lb baby.

My question is, what are some things that I should pay attention to as I start to exercise more and more? I am still stuck with the fear of making everything worse.

As a side note... I am back in Canada for vacation and I went to a gyn for a general assessment of everything. She spent the entire time trying to convince me that surgury is a bad option (especially at my age), even though I expressed no interest in it whatsoever. This was the exact opposite of what I was being encouraged to do in the U.S. I am curious if this is "cultural"...

I think if you do something which has a worsening effect on prolapse you will notice that your prolapse symptoms are more pronounced. probably within a day or so.
at least that's how it is for me.
I think its great that youre getting more active and swimming and all that.
and I agree that there is a cultural component to the pro-surgery mentality in the US.

Hi Alexasmom,

With exercise, I've tried lots of different things to see how my body responded. If I felt more draggy or heavy afterwards or saw things 'hanging lower' then I gave that away. I've found so far that walking and swimming are best for me. There's no jarring of the body and no 'obtuse' angles that Christine talks about. I'd say just experiment with things, take it slowly, and see how you feel as you go. If the breastroke didn't feel too good I'd give it a miss for now and maybe try again in a few months time. I do freestyle and backstroke when I lap swim. Both seem fine.

It's interesting what you said about the cultural differences. Australia seems to also be extremely pro-surgery. Everyone I've seen about my POP has said I'll probably need surgery after baby number two - this included gyno, health nurse, physiotherapist, GP and another urinary specialist. I haven't had anyone advise against it. Thankfully, I found this site!