Second Pregnancy POP question

Hi new worried mom,
Thank you for your enquiry. This is a common query for pregnant mums or women considering pregnancy, who have some expereince of pelvic organ prolapse (pop). If you type in key words in the search box, aboe left, you'll find a number of previous posts and discussions about this and related topics.

I generally think major surgery is worth avoiding unless it's necessary or definately the best option. A ceasarian cuts through all the layers of the anterior abdominal wall and the uterus. This inevitably disrupts these structures to some degree or another.

The WW pelvic organ support system is a top to toe system, which amongst other things, relies on healthy musculature and pelvic organ position. A ceasarian damages the musculature of the anterior abdomen and uterus, which the body needs to recover from as well as it it can. It is hard to know what long term effects this may have. I had a ceasarian 21 years ago with my 1st child. I have owndered whether this contributed to my prolapse issues...

Other factors that seem obvious but rarely seem to be mentioned, is that looking after a baby following major surgery is tough! I found it very difficult to be the main carer for a baby whilst recovering from major surgery. Even raising myself into a seated position from lying down was painful and a problem for the first week or so. It took me a good 6 months to recover and to feel really myself I'd say 2 years. I know that's an unpopular view, but that was my expereince. These problems don't seem to be even raised in the debate!

Another rarely mentioned factor is that for very many women, the shape and look of their lower abdomen's are changed forever. I had a naturally rounded abdomen prior to the caesarian and felt happy to wear a bikini. Following caesarian, at the bottom of my lower abdomen, instead of a natural curve the abdomen cuts in where the bikini incision was made, so there is like an overhead little shelf above the very discreteincision line. So the incision line itself is very discrete, but I don't really like the look of my lower abdomen - and certainly I've never worn a bikini or showed my lower abdomen in public since then! I'm not overly concerned abou it - but I do think it's helpful for women to be aware of these things before making a decision.

Wishing you all the best during this special time (I know it's not easy at times!)
xwholewomanuk

Hi Worried new Mum

There are so many changes that happen in your life after pregnancy. You really don't need to find out that your bladder neck is no longer in the same place as it used to be before your first pregnancy! Nevertheless, sometimes it happens.

The first pregnancy does most of the stretching of body tissues. Many members of these Forums will attest to this. You go into your second pregnancy with an already stretched body, so it feels different from the first pregnancy. I can relate strongly to this from my own experience back in the 1980's. There are lots of changes ahead for you in this pregnancy.

Other experienced Members who have had only vaginal births will reassure you that your prolapse is unlikely to worsen after vaginal birth with this baby, as long as you treat your body respectfully and implement Whole Woman techniques. Posture is the most important of these.

Prolapse often improves during the pregnancy, but even if it doesn't, and you end up with postpartum prolapse after the birth it will be two years until your body reverts completely, so prolapse within a few weeks of birth does not give much of an indication of what it will be like two years after the birth.

How far are you into the second pregnancy?

Read widely on this site. Check out the FAQ's Tab and the Resources Tab, and as WholewomanUK suggested, use the Search box to explore previous discussions of postpartum prolapse.

I suggest that you buy Christine Kent's book, Saving the Whole Woman and the DVD, First Aid for Prolapse, which has a gentle workout and a more advanced workout, most of which you can do while pregnant, and clarification of how the different aspects of the workout should be done in particular ways.

Louise

A cesarean section does not prevent prolapse. It's thought the weight of the pregnancy itself is what contributes to prolapse rather than the vaginal birth itself. Whatever, the true explanation for prolapse just having a ceasarean does not prevent it.

Yeah! When you see the size of the average belly at parturition, there is one hell of a lot of growth and stretching in that belly, however the baby is going to come out! Sure, the vagina and pelvic floor muscles don't distend during birth in a caesarian section, but everything else does, during the pregnancy, especially in those last critical weeks when everything is loosening!

WWUK, thanks for bringing up this rarely-discussed aspect of c-section. Many women will opt for one because they think it is the best route to preserving as many aspects of their pre-baby bodies as possible. How wrong that is....think about how everything in there is interconnected and how that interconnection and the integrity of the uterus are so central to pelvic organ support.

Anyone ever looked at the website theshapeofamother.com? Women post pictures of their after-baby bodies. The pix of the after-c-section moms are an eye-opener to anyone considering one. The combination of the normal stretching of pregnancy, and the scar, can result in various degrees of what WWUK has described. Though I had all vaginal births, I have a scar from a ruptured appendix many years before child-bearing, and I have a similar effect. - Surviving

Hi Worried New Mom

We generally think by two years pp, that it is a good as it gets. My memory is hazy but I am sure that the improvement goes on for much longer than that, maybe very subtley, but I am pretty sure that my body doesn't feel as floppy on the inside 25 years pp as it did when my youngest was two. Maybe my memory is going?

PP floppiness is not the same as feeling prolapse symptoms. Floppy is the whole abdominal and pelvic area. To me POP is really in the vaginal and vulval areas; it is really just pelvic. Sure you feel that too when you are PP, but the whole below the waist slooshing around thing was about two years for me, but I don't feel it now.

Make any sense?

Louise

:-)

Hi Worried - When you consider that many of us here did not even start Whole Woman work until years or even decades after giving birth, then of course you can see improvement at any point in your life. To a large extent this is a function of how much you put in. I started this at 60 and wish I had known about it when I was your age. My biggest improvements came in my second year when I really started to make this an all-day-every-day practice. Now it is natural for me, and because I had so many years of bad posture to make up for, progress has been slow but very steady. Start now. - Surviving