Your body can heal

I feel like I go from feeling very positive some of the time to feeling really low and miserably depressed others. Raising 4 little ones is definitely easier when I'm feeling happy and optimistic. Thanks for posting this, it really reminds me that this is a slow healing process and that I just need to take it one day at a time and trust my body.

ARG

Hi Munecarica

It is great to see posts like this one to remind us all that it does take time, and that healing does continue to happen. So glad things are going so well for you.

Looking back at the stages I have been through with my prolapses over the years, and the improvement I have had in my symptoms since starting WW work 3 1/2 years ago, it makes me realise that healing can continue, slowly but perceptibly for years and years.

I hope your improvement continues too.

Cheers

Louise

Yes, simply living in a bipedal human female body equates to inhabiting a pelvic organ support structure that is even stronger than four legged animals. We try to aid and encourage that system as much as possible through this work, but postpartum prolapse is often known to improve on its own. I wish you continued success – and also encourage you to never forget the natural shape of your spine, from which your organs are suspended.

I had a particularly bad day yesterday (tried some extreme abdominal exercises, and felt very 'draggy' all day), and reading your post inspires optimism whre there was none! I do think I'm having some improvement, too. It's so nice to hear that more healing is yet to come.

Thanks so much!

Hi Munecarica

Oh yes. Sometimes we do slip backwards a bit, then recover after a while. Sometimes it is something we have done for too long, or too often, or in the wrong way, or not realise we have done, or have been stressed and unconsciously hunched from the stresses we carry day to day. Sometimes everyday stress will cause constipation too. From the sounds of things, you may have the type of stresses that could do this. Whole body exercise such as Christine's ballet workout will help you to unhunch and open your body out again. It will also be a good stress buster.

Also, as your body reverts pre-pregnancy it is on its way to a new equilibrium, and sometimes further changes result. It will eventually settle, but allow a few months yet, and even years, as the subtle improvements continue. Sometimes I think a woman's body is like a volcano, with its cycles and upheavals, its swelling and regressing. We never really know what will happen next, and just kind of have to do what we can and ride the changes like a wave.

I can only suggest that you take a look at any lifestyle factors that might be preventing you from doing WW posture properly (upper back and neck stiffness?), check your diet, make sure your clothing is not compressing your belly, check your WW posture. Also, make sure that you are toileting properly. Allow your belly to expand when you are emptying your bowel and don't strain. Get back into posture again, with relaxed belly afterwards, to allow your pelvic and abdominal organs to 're-organise themselves' after bowel emptying. I find the half squat position helpful, I think because it throws my whole abdomen forward so the rectum is at the top of the pile and has no other pressure on it. It also takes the pressure off my pelvic floor.

There is lots of evidence that a lowering of the perineum, which is what can happen when we strain (also happens in childbirth every time), stretches the pudendal nerve, which has a branch that innervates that area, and makes it extra-sensitive. That may be the cause of the pain, but I am not a doctor, so check it out for yourself. Googling 'pudendal nerve entrapment' will tell you more about this. As far as I can see, WW posture, which throws the pelvic organs forward and allows the perineum to rise out of its deformed state by taking weight off it, is a good way to raise the perineum and help this recovery along. You may still be in recovery from the pregnancy, and it may resolve just with time as well.

Hope this is helpful.

Cheers

Louise

Even as I start to realize that more and more, the tears are still falling. Hi, I have been reading all I can for just over two weeks now, but just keep feeling overwhelmed.

I am a whopping 3.5 weeks pp with baby number three. In my heart I really think this was a problem after at least the second baby, but I didn't actually find something hanging out of my vagina one night like I did this time. I think my bladder has fallen, and my cervix is so darn low. I am not really having any symptoms which is such a blessing (no pain, no aching, no rubbing, no voiding trouble), maybe I would have been blissfully unaware if I hadn't of overdone it....but I guess I would rather know and work to help my body heal!

I'd love to be rational and patient, but it just isn't working right now. I so have appreciated reading all the posts...especially the ones where so many of you have seen major improvement after giving your bodies time to heal after baby (which really seems to be the majority of women).

So why can't I just let it be and be patient?? I am trying to work on posture, have stopped lifting things (did waaaaay too much about 6 days pp), taking lots of fibre, kegels and just trying to pray. I need to just stop looking at everything (both on me and on the internet).

So here's a rambling mama...needing to just get outside to play with my boys instead of frustrating and upsetting myself thinking about being "broken".

Things always seem better in the morning and I always hope that shows where it might progress to...maybe? I keep reading to rest...I think I really need some guidance/suggestions on how to make that work with three boys one 3.5 weeks, one 23 months and one 3/5 years...

And how do you stop looking all day to make sure things aren't falling down? I really thought I might be certifiably nuts until I started reading all the posts and realized I am certainly not the only one who has developed quite a close relationship wiht a mirror!!

THANK YOU! to all the women who post here. I guess I am looking for some encouragement specifically for me...hubby is so patient and so wonderful but is getting tired I am sure of my wanting to be all back together right away (and giving him hourly reports on the status of my organs!)

~a canadianmama in colorado

I am so so much better than I was! I started feeling way better at about a year. along and along I felt better but right at a year I was able to "forget" I even had a prolapse. I am now 18 months pp (you should see my little guy he is so grown-walking and talking and fighting with his sister and brother) and I feel amazing.
I had a great laugh at the hourly updates you are giving your man. too too funny. Just imagine if he was giving you hourly updates of some part of his body- you would probably roll your eyes right out of your head (well at least I know I would- but I am not so tolerant- like if my man says he feels sick I ignore him until I hear him puking in the bathroom and then I am honestly shocked that he is really sick-which annoys him to no end and leaves him exasperated saying "I told you I was sick") what a good man you have.

One way to stop checking is to a. pick a day and time once a week and stick to it- or b. choose an alternate behavior - like every time you are curious to check do 3 of Christine's exercises or c. ground yourself and pick a mantra and say it over and over- like "my body is healing" or some other reassuring thing.

It is all so up and down. I guess.

enjoy that new baby.

Your kiddo spacing sounds quite a lot like mine. It is hard for me to even remember what I did in the early days- I think I mostly read stories and told stories and sat outside and let them dig in the dirt. Mostly I remember letting them do what they wanted to for a few weeks- oh and as soon as daddy got home I got in bed for the night- (looking back I think that must have been a little depression)......

My situation sounds similar to yours. Now that I'm dealing with a more serious prolapse, I think there maybe have been some slight prolapse after my last delivery but nothing that bothered me so it never occurred to me that it could mean something was not right down below. Right after the birth of my fourth things were fine, until I started running 1.5 weeks after giving birth and things came crashing down (literally.) At the time I was so devastated and couldn't imagine getting through one day without constantly thinking about my prolapse but at 3 months pp I felt so good I decided to try a little 10 minute jog (why I didn't learn the first time is beyond me) and things fell back down again. I'm now just over 4 months pp and things feel pretty good again. I was wearing tampons on a daily basis because they seem to hold things up and I can't even tell things are not normal when I have them in. Today for the first time in a while I was able to make it most of the day without one and things stayed up. I think I'm going to try to find some sea sponges since some other women here have found success with those.

Anyway, just a long post to say that I was right there, checking all the time, talking to my husband about it all the time, sad, depressed, etc. But here I am at 4 months pp and barely think about it. In fact, the only thing it's really affecting right now is my ability to run. But I feel confident that in time I'll even be able to do that again. It definitely gets better from 3 weeks pp but I know it's hard to believe that. Just know that others have been there and know what you're going through.

ARG

Hi alemama and ARG,

Thanks so much for your responses...I have gone back and looked at your stories and even printed out many different stories (so I am not spending all my time on this dang computer) but to have encouragement right there infront of me when I start getting frustrated.

I think I can even see some improvement in the last three weeks...definitely in the morning things look a whole lot different! I just wish it would stay that way all day!!!

I have stopped checking quite so much (finally!) but the ongoing commentary is still there for my hubby on the days when I get myself worked up again! :) I am soo thankful to have been blessed with a *very* patient man!

patience is the hardest thing when as an active woman I am itching to get back to "normal" or even to get going again. Which in hindsight is probably half the issue--not taking the time needed to heal before jumping into life with both feet after the first two boys!

Thank you again so much for your responses...this site has certainly helped me sooo much in realizing I need to get my mind off my perineum and back onto the life of my family!!

~kristy