Newbie here and need advice!

Hi mommyly – It sounds like you have been doing pretty well for yourself, considering your last birth experience. I can understand your concern but I don’t think you need to worry. As G-mom has no doubt told you, there are many moms on here who are the same or better after birthing more babes, thanks to WW posture. Prolapse comes and goes during the pregnancy and from what I’ve read here, there is a period during which you will actually be quite comfortable in that regard. Search the posts….I’m not the expert here.

Exercising in WW posture is an important part of this, but the absolute MOST important part is learning to live in the posture all the time. The idea is to restore and guard your lower lumbar curvature, and your organs have a place to go in the relaxed lower belly. Leaning back in your chair at work may feel good, but it collapses the spine and it is a contributing factor to prolapse. If it’s uncomfortable to sit up straight, maybe more cushioning under you will help a bit.

As for the exercises themselves, anything you can fit into your day that feels good, is good. Do what you can, but remember to try and stay in posture all the time, not just while exercising. Not sure what you mean about the IUD with respect to exercising….?

WW posture is probably the best way for you to get your uterus in a good position. On the other hand, how does one actually go about that, or know when it is in a good position? Honestly, we need someone like G-mom to answer questions like these!

Anyway, you sound like you have things well in hand. Good luck to you. Do get serious about this posture. If I had one wish, it would be that I had known all about this while still in my child-bearing years. - Surviving

Dear Mommyly

Yes, it is a common thing to do; to lean back in your chair and find it comfortable. But that is because you are seated and your pelvic area is supported by the seat of the chair. Your back is not taking the weight of your body and you feel a sense of relief especially if you experience a dull ache under your left ribs which is a common feature of uterine prolapse. But as surviving pointed out this is not what WWposture is about.

I take perineum to mean vagina and anus area, and I cannot account for why you would have an ache there if it is uterine prolapse you are talking about. Did you have an episiotomy? If not a possible explanation is that the kegels exercises have meant you have strengthened your sphincter muscles (horizontal) and the rest of the muscles (vertical) in that area have not been equally strengthened and therefore feel the full stretch of the WWposture when you go into it. The extra cushioning that surviving mentioned should help. To strengthen your vertical muscles (those between the inside of your thighs) a pulling of your legs apart gently while sitting or laying down would set a good beginning to strengthening them. I don’t know what your concept of exercising is. Some people go for boot camp, but if you start gently you can gauge your reaction and avoid anything damaging and build strength as you go. One gauge is if you can hold WWposture while you do the exercises.

The posture is not an easy thing to master for most of us who have been tucking our tummy in for years. If this is the case with you, the WWposture requires a whole new training of your muscular/skeletal orientation. In other words, it’s a huge undertaking but one that is quickly successful for young people who are dedicated to achieving it and who possess the inherent suppleness and flexibility of the young.

As to the questions about your IUD and what best position for your womb before TTC and the exercise regime, you need to discuss these with your medical advisers. They will talk to you in specific terms of what is most suitable to your condition.

best wishes, Fab

Hi mommy - Just a little tweak of the posture for you here.....Shoulders should not be back. Down, but not back. Keep upper back flat and broad. Aside from that, if you never got into the tummy-in-butt-tucked thing, you are way ahead of the game!!

Don't lean back at all when sitting, if possible to avoid. If you do, try to keep something behind your lower back to keep it from rounding. Protect the lumbar curvature. I used to be more lazy about this, but I've been working harder lately, especially driving. Car seats are NOT prolapse-friendly. - Surviving

I will try to address your second and third questions, bearing in mind that I am not a doctor and any questions regarding your medical wellbeing should be directed to your health care practitioner.
ok, so...... when will you know when your uterus is ready to TTC? IME, its not about the uterus its about your mind. when you feel that your body can cope with and recuperate from another pg and birth then you are ready. I would start doing the postural work asap (as you have) and the exercises too, as much as you can realistically work into your lifestyle. personally, I found that my IUD does not like the firebreathing and nauli, but that may not be the case for you. and there are still plenty of other exercises you can do even with the IUD. the wholewoman lifestyle is not only for supporting you through pg and childbirth, it will help stabilize your pelvic organs for the rest of your life. I personally have also found that since employing WW posture, I no longer have neck, shoulder, back pain. my arthritic hips have calmed down. I know that was not the goal of WW work, nor can I promise any of that to you, but I believe that WW posture promotes overall health and wellbeing.
specifically about the uterus though, if you have a 'tipped uterus' you could probably feel that your cervix is pointed forward (or to one side) and with continued posture and exercise you will be able to feel the cervix move to point towards your back as your uterus moves to a more typical position.

as far as exercise during pg, iirc, the only contraindicated exercises are the firebreathing and nauli although the posture becomes difficult if not impossible in the later months of pg.

glad to see you here, I hope you are finding support and answers : )

Hi Mommyly

My suggestion is to ensure that your chair seat is horizontal or leaning forward slightly, rather than the normal leaning back slightly, when it is almost impossible to sit without resting your back against something. Many office chairs are also dished so there are lumps at the outside of your thighs. Presumably it is to help us to sit with our knees together, or else they are built for men with small thighs. ;-) I find that when driving my husband's car I have to sit on an old crumbled foam cushion that I can pummel to be high at the back, very low at the front and just the fabric at the side of my thighs. This way I can spread my knees way out. I already have a custom cut (with my trusty bread knife) high density foam cushion in my own car driver seat to make the seat horizontal and flat.

I suggest that you choose trousers or long skirts at work so you can sit with your knees apart and hips turned out, (just like the men!) so your base is stable. Then you won't have to lean back against the back of the chair. There is nothing wrong with having your back against the back of the chair, but it is harder to be mindful of your posture if your upper body and neck are not supporting themselves out of necessity.

Re where the pain is, I suggest that you buy Saving the Whole Woman by Christine Kent. There is a self-examination section in it to help you to identify the landmarks in your pelvis by feeling for yourself. Our culture generally discourages (particularly) children from playing with, and exploring their genitals, so there is no way of validly learning the lay of the land during childhood, let alone using the correct anatomical names. I didn't actually touch my genitals other than washing, until I started to use menstrual tampons as a 16 year old. Then I saw little point in exploring further than just getting them in and out. It was not until my second pregnancy that I actually got out a mirror and had a good look and a good feel. I had already had infertility treatment for the first two pregnancies, so having someone else feeling around down there was quite a familiar experience. Somehow it never felt relevant to have a feel around myself. I only learned to bring myself to orgasm at the age of 48. That was a revelation! You might not be into that - that's fine. ;-)

With Christine's book that describes WW posture and pelvic anatomy in a WW relevant way, you will be able to accurately identify all your parts. This will help you to ascertain exactly where the pain is happening. There is a world of difference between vaginal pain (in the vaginal tube itself), vulval pain (the bits you can see on the outside; outer labia, inner labia, vestibule, clitoris, urethra, and so on as you go further in), perineal pain (The tough muscular/connective tissue that starts at the back of the vagina and goes as far as the anus, and is covered with skin - the bit they cut during episiotomy).

To understand Saving the Whole Woman, or any other resource about our sexual and reproductive parts you do need to be able to identify, and preferably to verbalise the names of these body parts, even if you feel squeamish or reserved about it. Try repeating them while under the shower, or under your breath (!) while walking, until you are comfortable saying the words and know where they are in your body (and in diagrams). This may not be an issue for you. I don't mean to sound patronising. Some women literally cannot say vulva out loud because of cultural conditioning. In this world of prolapse management it is important that you use the correct words freely and confidently.

Communication is hard with only text to read and images to look at here. Accurate description will help you to understand what we and your health professional are describing, and for us and your health professionals to understand you, if you can comfortably say the name of each part and know where it is in your pelvic region.

BTW, I get pain on my ischial tuberosities and inferior pubic rami, http://home.comcast.net/~wnor/pelvis.htm (scroll down to the first side-on illustration), rather than the soft tissue of my vulva and vagina, when I am sitting at my desk on a stool, particularly if my knees are together. Curiously, I don't get it when I am sitting in Burmese meditation posture, http://www.meditationinfo.net/1/meditation_posture.htm where my hips are very outwards-rotated and very flexed. I am still trying to get my head around what is pulling. I am becoming more and more convinced that chairs are simply not good for humans, particularly females, unless we can sit comfortably cross-legged on them for extensive periods of time. I comfortably sit still in Burmese posture, meditating once or twice a day for 20-30 minutes, on an old sofa cushion on the floor, with a crescent cushion on the top of it, under my butt. My knees are a bit stiff for about 1 minute when I stand up again, but are fine after that, as is my whole body.

Can anyone cast any light on what might be pulling on my IT's and IPR's??? WholewomanUK? Zen meditators?

There will be a pretty specific location for your pain, Mommlyly. Ya just gotta learn some stuff and figure it out. Only you can feel it, so you are the most likely person to be able to localise it.

:-)

Louise