Frankenvagina

Submitted by wheayting on September 8, 2012 - 5:06pm
Body: 

Sorry for the title, that is the thought that came to mind today when doing a check, and it made me laugh. Sometimes you just can't do anything but laugh LOL...

I'm wondering if poor stitching might be to blame for some of my issues. I had a third degree tear with episiotomy the first baby and a second degree natural tear the second time. I remember the midwife saying something about a skin tag that tore off slightly and how she was going to put everything back to normal, but I didn't recall ever having a skin tag!

So now 6 months PP I am still learning what is what down there, and I took a look at my tear. I see part of the muscley part of the lower vaginal wall has not healed together, the two sides have healed but are apart and are just sitting there like nubs. I also noticed it looked a little lopsided, one side for whatever reason has healed not attached as low as it would normally be. It is fairly obvious when you look at the pigmentation of the skin, things just do NOT line up. This would fit with my feeling that things are just really loose during intercourse (yes I know I had two babies...).

I don't know who messed it up, the OB the first time or the midwife the second time.. but things are not right. I think I'm going to get a second opinion and possibly see about having things reconstructed.

Am I wrong to think this could be worsening the prolapse??

Forum:

Surviving60

September 8, 2012 - 5:27pm

I love the title, I'll probably hear this word in my head all day tomorrow! I can't answer your question, but I will say that reading through this post makes me determined to keep up with my current practice of not looking at my vagina!! You are a riot. - Surviving

fab

September 8, 2012 - 7:29pm

Dear Wheayting

The damage that you talk about could have been a contributing factor to your prolapse, but if it is uterine or bladder prolapse they have fallen into the vaginal canal from above your pelvic bone, and so there would have been other contributing factors as well. If you are looking at urethra prolapse or rectocele apart from the other well known contributory factors for these, you could possibly make a connection for the unclosed opening and non alignment. They could be directly pulling upon your urethra and rectum. Either way, it certainly would not be helping whatever the prolapse.

I know my own very tight stitching and uneven alignment ached for a few years postpartum and I always felt things were a little skewered so that the uterus when it fell, seemed to fall to that side.

As to the reconstructive surgery, you probably won’t find many takers on this site, but as you know we would need to discuss it more with you to really understand the implications the injury has for you. Only you have possession of that information. You may strike it lucky and have someone come on who has been there. Let’s hope so (that does not sound quite right, but you know what I mean).

Best wishes, Fab

louiseds

September 9, 2012 - 4:44am

Posture, posture, posture. That is the basic thing that you have to do first, before looking at other things that will improve your prolapses.

Tell us what you have done posture-wise.

Louise

Surviving60

September 9, 2012 - 10:22am

Reconstructive surgery on your vagina? I'm hoping you will spend a little more time reading/watching/studying/applying Christine's work, possibly stop staring at your lady parts quite so much, ask more questions here.....anything but vagina surgery, good grief. - Surviving

wheayting

September 9, 2012 - 12:09pm

I have been trying the posture, diet changes, walking more often, not lifting etc. What I have found so far is that standing "correctly" causes a huge amount of tailbone pain. To complicate the issues I have scoliosis and broke my tailbone when I was 11. I don't know what I did, possibly carrying the baby too much, but today I woke up with back and abdominal pain.

I'm trying to avoid suspension etc surgery, but if I have an episiotomy tear that is not fully healed, this is not going to heal on its own and will make prolapse worse will it not? I would think having the back/lower muscle wall of the vaginal "tube" split apart is a bit part of the hub that is discussed so often. I don't think this would be a major surgery, just a few stitches. I have almost no perineum left. That can't be right.

I need to go for a second opinion as to which type of prolapse I have... if my urethral opening is visible from the outside I think that's involved too. I am trying not to look down there, but I am trying to see if things are getting better or worse and try to limit it to once a week.

alemama

September 9, 2012 - 6:42pm

after my third birth the stitches came out. It was the most horrible disappointing thing ever. Well it seemed so at the time. I really didn't want them to stitch me up but they said I *must* as it was a 3rd degree tear. They came out the same day.
Did a consult with the OB and he told me the procedure was called perineoplasty. It was not something he could do until at least 6 weeks postpartum. I was so confused- I saw him less than 48 hours later, but he said it was too late.
So, the procedure is not a few simple stitches. They need the tissues to bond together. To do this they need to do something called debridement. They basically sand down the muscle tissue then stitch it together. How well this heals is sort of up in the air. It may be that you end up with a smoother bit of skin between your vag opening and anus- or best case scenario, the muscles actually bind together with scar tissue. But it's still scar tissue- It's not the beautiful interwoven muscle that it once was. Risks include nerve pain and pain with sex.
So. I went with the unstitched perineum.
They are made to tear during birth- and they are made to heal as well as they can.
I do agree with your statement that having a split perineum contributes to rectocele formation. However, I think once the damage is done- all the kings horses and all the kings men couldn't put it back together again in a way that would resolve the rectocele.
I think your tailbone pain will get better. When I started this postural work my tailbone ached tremendously. But after a while I noticed it was gone!
Rest easy. Maybe a hot water bottle would help. You are reworking facia. It's big work. Expect your body to be sore- it can even bug your uterus and uterine ligaments for a while.

wheayting

September 9, 2012 - 10:21pm

thank you for all the info, you ladies are just wonderful... the only place I'm getting straight answers!! I will keep trying and keep working through it. if this is bugging the uterus ligaments etc that would probably explain the back and abdominal pain I had today. I noticed that discharge was increased as well. I'm just going to call it "progress" ;)