4.5 months postpartum and worse?

Submitted by intuitivemama on December 15, 2008 - 3:10pm
Body: 

Hello Everyone!

I have been lurking on this site since my birth in August and wanted to say thank you to everyone. Just know there are people out there reading that you are helping who might not have gotten around to registering for the forum yet! It really helps to hear your stories and experiences.

My story goes like this: I gave birth in early August to a large baby boy (almost 10 pounds). I did everything I could to avoid complications like I am experiencing now! I had a birth at a birthing center (no drugs/forceps/vacumn) gave birth on a birthing stool in a squat postition to increase birthing space. Did not have a difficult birth, not really long or short (22 hours) less than one hour pushing...

So it was a surprise when a week post partum (could have been earlier but everything was so swollen down there), I thought I had a UTI because of the urgency to pee. (Actually the first week after I had stress incontinence that only lasted a week). At my 6 week checkup I was checked by a midwife she said I had no UTI, a slight cystocele, no rectocele and my uterus was "high up". Well now, 4.5 months later I feel something dropping out (coming from the back), and heaviness all day long. I have got the book, been doing the posture, sometimes the workout (used to be a dancer so I am familiar with core muscles)...no improvement and the last few weeks have been getting worse! I know it can still be considered early and healing will go up to min. of a year after birth...but I am surprised I am getting worse at 4.5 months and scared it is going to continue to decline.

I have tried for the life of me to understand the self exam and I really have no clue what is going on down there. I have a small carrot like thing sticking out of my vagina and wonder if it is part of my second degree tear that didn't heal correctly? It is right on the lip of my vagina where it is attached so I don't think it is rectocele bulging in, but maybe? I want to go get it diagnosed by a doc. but don't know it there is even a point in doing that now, because healing will still go on for a year and I am not going to do surgery or anything now. Do you think it would help to get it diagnosed to know for sure? I am worried about insurance claiming it is a condition I had before they covered me if in the future I need them to cover something (Just got this insurance after the delivery).

My plan is to keep up with the posture and exercise, although I am a little discouraged that doing so has not helped me but that's when things got worse. Probably coincidence, but if anyone had gotten worse at 4.5 months and then better, please let me know!

Thanks,
Intuitivemama

kiki

December 15, 2008 - 4:00pm

I don't think i really started feeling massively better till about 6 months pp. my cystocele improved quite early on, but this made way for my rectocele to make itself known, so overall i felt much worse then. this could be what's happened to you, if you feel heaviness at the back. for me, the pops were very obvious (ie golf balls hanging down), but now they are much subtler and rather than the vaginal wall feeling like a smooth inside of a cylinder, it have a sausage like bulge coming into the vagina on the back, and just a subtle falling in on the front.

i personally found it useful to know what was going on and how bad it was, so that i knew my starting point. but unless a doctor is very experienced, they can't tell a lot when you are lying down. the surgeon i saw said he could as he saw this day in / day out, so he knew what a lying down prolapse equated to standing up. but i think he was an exception...

have faith in the ability to improve, both naturally and through Christine's work.
my little one is nearly 2 years old, and i'm still having improvement. in the last few weeks my POPs have felt the best they ever have felt--i haven't actually noticed them for a few weeks. that was jsut when i'd resigned myself to the fact that i'd be aware of them forever. i am however still aware of the up / down nature of this, but it's great to have a break even if only temporary...

alemama

December 16, 2008 - 11:18am

I don't know if getting diagnosed would help or not. I was diagnosed with a "cele" and did my own searching online with just that word until I found out what the heck it all was and then freaked out totally until I found this forum and realized I could do something about it.
I suggest giving the self-exam some more work. I was so thrilled when I was able to actually track my progress by reaching in and feeling the changes-
my partner helped me figure it all out- basically by giving a second opinion. but I was happy to know what I had (the flip side to the coin of course was when I developed a cystocele on top of the rectocele- big bummer) and to chart my progress- forward and back that is.
As a dancer you may have trouble figuring out the lower body posture- upper body is much the same- but in WW posture we relax the lower abdomen and allow the natural curve in the lower spine.
you are going to improved greatly. I felt the best right at 18 months pp- pretty good by a year out- but by 18 months I was pretty sure I had reversed my condition.
Then I got pregnant again and couldn't use all my tools to deal with it and it came back- but no worse than it was at 8 months pp I would say- and now at 6 months pregnant I feel really good again- my uterus is super high and it kinda just pulled everything up with it-
so ya- it gets worse before it gets better- but if you can give it the time and work to get better it sure will.
check out Nauli- it has been awesome for me.