6 week postpartum update

Submitted by cararosesmum on January 13, 2011 - 5:19pm
Body: 

Well, I thought it was finally time to come clean about how my POPs have been behaving since my lovely, natural birth 6 weeks ago... had my 6 week checkup with the Dr yesterday, so I thought I'd wait until i got the official verdict before updating you...
So, apparently I now have a 'VERY' mild prolapse (Wait? What? this is the same doctor who a year ago said it was mild- moderate, sent me to see the physio and said I could have surgery when I finished having kids!) So, her opinion now? "Keep doing whatever it is you've been doing- it's obviously working!" Yay- thankyou Christine!
And what have I been doing?- Umm, international travel with a toddler, getting pregnant, having a vaginal birth, pushing a double stroller on fairly long walks and wearing my baby for at least two hours a day!
That said- I've been doing all this firmly, superduper pulled up in posture, always sitting up at 90 degrees with my lumber curve in place. I occasionally do plies etc, but often i forget. Oh, and I stopped eating meat and have loads of fibre. Still eat lots of chocolate though!
I walk a couple of km most days, I use my exercise bike, 10 km 3-4 times a week and I lift light weights. I did this all through my pregnancy and started again last week. And still, 6 weeks after birth my POP is better than my prepregnancy baseline.
The only time my POP bothers me is at the end of the day IF I need a poo. My rectocele drops down very easily as soon as my bowel fills up. But heck, I can live with that!
So, anyone considering having a baby after POP- my pregnancy was symptom free, my birth was awesome and I was prepared to have everything hanging out my body by now but my POPs are being lovely to me.
Fingers crossed it all stays this way!
And thankyou all for your support and advice- couldn't (wouldn't) have done it without ya!

louiseds

January 13, 2011 - 7:52pm

Hey that is great, Cararosesmum! I am delighted that your body has recovered so well after the birth.

Don't push it too hard though. Remember that you *have* just given birth a few weeks ago, and your endopelvic fascia still has a lot of reverting to do, like another 18-24 months, not weeks. Take great care with *how* you use your body. There is ample opportunity for it to go pear-shaped yet, as your baby is still quite light, and you have not hit 3 months pp. However, your body was designed to give birth, and designed to retain your pelvic organs, so it is possible that you are over the worst of it.

I don't mean to be a grumpy old, finger-wagging profit of doom about it, but this is what I have learned from all the postpartum Mums on the Forums.

I do hope you continue to do well.

Louise

alemama

January 13, 2011 - 8:56pm

So So excited for you!
What a wonderful wonderful bit of news to get. The icing on an already delicious cake.

cararosesmum

January 13, 2011 - 9:40pm

I know Louise- it's easy to get too excited, and I know with POP it's often good day- bad day. And of course I hate to set myself up incase it all does come tumbling down again- so yeah, I'm trying to be realistic but frankly I'm just amazed with how my POPs are behaving at the moment. One day at a time and all that... I guess what I'm really trying to say is that WW has helped me be the kind of mum I want to be, and do the things I want to do, which I'd otherwise be too scared to try. i think WW has helped my state of mind over the past year at least as much as my physical wellbeing.
Onward and upward (i hope...!)

louiseds

January 13, 2011 - 9:57pm

Cararosesmum, I hope you will post your story in the Longstanding Members' Success Stories Forum. Just give it a few months.

I suggest that you save your story-to-date on your computer somewhere, or print it and stash it. As the years go by it is very easy to forget details and get things out of sequence. Posts get buried in the Forums.

When I put my POP story together about three years ago I had to dredge up memories back to my first pregnancy, which was back in 1981. A lot has happened since then! In the writing process, I remembered details that had eluded me previously.

Keeping diaries and stories written down often has value later.

Louise

clavicula

January 14, 2011 - 12:25am

So cool! I am so happy for you, what a story!
The female body is amazing!

Thanks for your encouraging story, keep us posted!

Liv

kiki

January 16, 2011 - 2:37pm

that is so great!
thank you for sharing. it is a great inspiration for everyone here, especially those thinking about more babies!
thank you ;-)

cararosesmum

February 4, 2011 - 3:11pm

Ok, 9 weeks in now- still hanging in there, if you know what I mean!
I have had a few 'oh no, shouldn't have done that!' moments, but haven't done any permanent damage! Most days, if I hadn't already identified my pops long ago, I would honestly think I just have the normal vagina of a multiparous woman. I guess in many ways I do, actually.
I can just feel my cervix with the tip of my index finger, so that's pretty awesome and my rectocele gets a bit saggy by the end of the day as my bowel fills up. But I expect that now, so it doesn't freak me out anymore and I know as soon as I pass a BM it'll be ok again.
Still babywearing, still walking a heap. Just started nauli again and the odd plie. Luckily the posture is second nature to me now, so I don't have to think to hard about it.
So, another 3 weeks and I'll hopefully be giving myself a big pat on the back getting through the first three months. I really hope so anyway!

louiseds

February 5, 2011 - 10:03pm

Cararosesmum, I think you 'get it'. You have done well. You have lost your fear and you are now much more knowledgeable about your body, so you can trust it. We all have temporary setbacks, and that is all they are. Temporary. I doubt that you will have serious problems again, following this pregnancy.

Life is full of risks. I might get run over by a bus tomorrow. We just live as well as we can, no matter what happens.

Louise