Pregnant with our 4th...what's to come?

Body: 

Hi Friends,
It's been a while since I've chatted among you all. I am so extremely grateful that I chose to cancel my hyst surgery a year ago, as my POP is so improved, I barely ever notice signs of it.
Well, we are with child once more. Our 4th baby, and my first with having POP. I am hoping to ask you moms who've carried and delivered while having POP...what to expect? Early bed rest? Did your doc insist on cs? My mind is full of questions, so please share with me your own experiences. Knowing the good and the bad of it all helps me make better decisions when faced with a challenging situation (like going toe-to-toe with my OBGYN). I look forward to hearing from you gals. Hugs to you all...Lisa

congrats on the pg!
lets see..my fourth pg was very uneventful. no bed rest, unless medically indicated, bed rest is not what you want to do for your prolapse. get up, get into posture for as long as you can. rest when you need to. get on your hands and knees to stretch. eat well. sleep well if you can. think positive.
no c/s for me either, I had my fourth baby at home on my hands and knees. it was awesome.
prepare ahead for pp, if you can line up help around the house, do it.

I used a mw, and honestly, I wouldnt even mention a prolapse to an ob if I thought he'd give me trouble. a prolapse in and of itself is not really a medical problem, not even when you're pg.

Thank you, granolamom, for your encouragement. One positive note, and I feel better. I do think it's time to resume my WW exercises, and get my body in tip-top shape for the next trimesters when I am less active.
By the way, when I was rereading "Circle of Stones" the other day, I thought of this forum.
:" How might your life have been different if there had been a place for you? A place for you to go...a place of women, to help you learn the ways of woman...a place where you were nurtured from an ancient flow sustaining you and steadying you as you sought to become yourself. A place of women to help you find and trust the ancient flow already there within yourself...waiting to be released...a place of women...How might your life be different?"
This that we share is sacred. Thank you, sisters.
Thanks granolamom, xo, Lisa

sounds like an interesting book, Oumrayan. How about Reviewing it for us.

Louise

I think I will look for that book, sounds like a good read
and I agree, lisa, the sharing that happens here is sacred and it has been so wonderful for me, not only with regard to my prolapse, but the finding and trusting , the steadying, all that you posted.

one more thing... just a reminder...I think the firebreathing and nauli shouldnt be done during pg.

My only tip would be to stick to your guns if your gyn gives you opinions that you are not happy with, eg insisting on a CS. I would think the best course of action in this case would be to ask for another couple of *independent* opinions. You may end up getting the same opinion as the first gyn, but at least you can go ahead with it, being happy that it is the best choice, and you won't unnecessarily throw an otherwise satisfactory relationship with the person helping you to gestate and birth this baby down the gurgler because you don't trust them.

It is all negotiable. S/he is a tradesperson. You are the customer. It is your life, your baby. At the most basic level it is a simple commercial transaction.

Hope it goes well.

Louise

Congratulations! What a wonderful blessing.
Not much bad I can say about having baby #4. He's 2 now and we are due any day with #5. My last two pregnancies have been very similar to the first three. No big deal for me. I have it easy. My prolapse symptoms do come back sometimes during pregnancy and for about the first year after birth. But they are extremely mild and since I know what's going on, I don't freak out.
No bed rest necessary due to prolapse and if you do some reading you will find that bed rest does not, on it's own, prolong gestation. I just read about this extensively in legal documents.
No one insisted I have a c-section. We had an 'uneventful' (lol) birth. My recovery has been wonderful.
This prolapse thing is really not a medical event you know? It's a little bulge here or there- maybe a low cervix. But not cause for alarm.
Good luck with your pregnancy and birth. Everything is perfect. Just relax and enjoy :)

I am now 20 weeks with my second baby, first post-POP. It's been fantastic! Now, I don't get any of those nasty pregnancy symptoms like morning sickness or pubic symphysis pain, so I am lucky. I thought my cervix was a bit lower around weeks 6-8, but that might be a normal anatomical phenomenon for all I know -- who else besides a woman with POP does daily cervix checks when pregnant? (A prolapsed cervix during pregnancy was my greatest fear, and did not come true). Otherwise, zero input from my main POP, cystocele. Nothing. And no bed rest, for sure! I am currently doing 12 hour shifts in the ICU, walk 3 miles to the grocery store with my two-year-old in the stoller, in the snow, and take ballet class whenever possible. ( I look a bit like the ballerina hippo in Disney's Fantasia, but it feels great!) I am under the care of a home birth midwife, so I don't know how an OB would react. However, I do know that to insist on MAJOR abdominal surgery for prolapse is a big red flag to search for another doctor. To insist on this is medically irresponsible, as it is putting you at risk for largely increased odds of all sorts of complications, infections, bleeding, hysterectomy, with NO proven effects on preserving vaginal integrity. I have stood at the a$$ end of dozens of c-sections now as a nursing student, and having seen the procedure and all the trauma it places on your bladder and uterus, it just bogles my mind that anyone could view this as being protective in any way. I have written descriptions in other posts, that you may be able to look up. If you can't find them, let me know and I will post again. Good luck with everything! I was pretty fearful myself but so far, so good!

I would add to this that there are all sorts of possibles after they don't mention. Know someone who is strugglin with adhesions, where the c-section scar tissue is welded to her bladder causing horrible problems. C-sections have their place, for truly emergencies where mama or baby would die. But that is a tiny minority of births compared to the number its used for. But when you realise all the problems that can happen during and after, i'd stick with a lovely natural birth any time...