prolapse after late miscarriage

Body: 

I recently discovered a slight uterine prolapse and had it confirmed with my doctor. Unfortunately, I had a miscarriage two weeks ago at 17 weeks gestation. The baby had developed to approximately the 16 week mark. During this pregnancy (and in my previous five pregnancies) I had difficulty urinating from about week 12 to week 14. My uterus has been retroverted my whole life, and I've been told by my midwives that during this portion of pregnancy the uterus is growing up and "out" of the pelvic cavity (moving to the tilted-forward position), and during those couple of weeks, it sort of traps my bladder, making it difficult to pee. Like a dummy, I pushed really hard for a few days, several times, because the full bladder feeling was absolutely awful. I've done this every pregnancy, but this time I felt my cervix right at the opening of my vagina and totally freaked out. Though I've had a few prolapse symptoms for much of my childbearing life (heaviness, achiness, low back pain), I just hadn't thought anything of it until I was able to see my cervix right there. It took about a week for my uterus to "pop up" and then the cervix went up completely and I put everything out of my mind. Fastforward a few weeks to my miscarriage - had to have a D&C to remove placenta, which felt quite violent, but was fortunately able to deliver the baby naturally without having the cervix dilated manually. Now my cervix is lower again - about an inch inside when bearing down. It's always been low due to the position of my uterus, but the doctor did confirm that I have a small prolapse. She kept using words like "slight" and "mild" but it still sounded so discouraging to me. I think I've been dealing with low cervix for much of my life and the feeling of extreme heaviness and achiness has always been a part of my pp experience and also my periods. I have awfully heavy periods and usually can't even walk much the first day or two. Could I have been experiencing a prolapse this whole time and not even known it? Or does it have more to do with the shape of my uterus in my body? I have six healthy children, but we love having a big family and now that I've lost my precious seventh, I don't want to end on this note (originally, this was going to be our last) and so feel a deep desire to get pregnant once again.

I have had all my children at home, including a set of twins, though the second twin was a footling breech. All births have been gentle and I never once felt violated. Fortunately, I never experienced a tear even with my 9 lb 12 oz baby. The babies have been born close together, but I've been really fortunate to have great health for the whole time and have kept up exercise and eating well. I keep wondering if the relaxin hormone that peaks at 14 weeks is partly to blame for my low cervix right now - is there any chance that the ligaments will return at least to a mostly-normal position? I'm two weeks from my D&C and still bleeding somewhat like a period (which I know is when the cervix is pretty low anyway?) I know I've affected my body's ligaments by having so many babies, but I've been diligent about the WW posture (best way to avoid posterior baby, btw) at least towards the end of my pregnancies (as much as I could). I definitely have not mastered it.

I guess I have a few questions, being a newbie. Do I have hope of healing up this "slight/mild" prolapse with WW posture and exercises? I ordered the DVD and I'm hoping I can really integrate this information before trying again for another baby. Will I ever be able to run again? I have a treadmill and it has been one of the best emotional and physical supports I've ever had. I started jogging when my youngest was seven months and was up to running 3 miles 3x per week without ANY pop symptoms whatsoever after my most recent baby (who just turned 1) and was able to keep it up until about 10 weeks into this pregnancy when I had to revert back to walking 3 miles a day. I certainly don't want to make any symptoms worse. I'm worried that I'll make my current cervix situation worse by any exercise at all - but it's so good for avoiding pp depression and now that I've lost a baby, I really need the emotional "fix" that exercise brings. I crave it. As for now, I have no pop symptoms except knowing in my head that my cervix is lower than usual. I want to know that I'll someday be able to function without thinking about it all the time.

I feel like I've had a wake-up call about pelvic health. Even if I might not have ever had prolapse before now, and even though what I'm experiencing right now is barely there, I don't want to have a huge setback 15 or 20 years from now when I'm in menopause and everything comes down! I purpose to start the exercises right now and keep them up for the rest of my life. As a woman and mother, the encouragement I take from this is that I have a chance to start right now to head off any significant issues in the future. Am I just telling myself what I want to hear, though?

Hi em and welcome to WW. You have every reason to be very positive and hopeful. For one thing, it can take up to 2 full years for the body to revert to the pre-pregnancy state as much as it is going to. It sounds like you have been pushing the envelope in that regard, and your body has risen to the challenge! Keep up with the posture work, all the time, every waking moment. It will become automatic eventually (I was into my second year before I could truly say this).

There should not be a problem with future pregnancies - especially if you are diligently adopting this posture. Pregnancy and post-partum are always going to take you through a range of emotions and symptoms anyway, but things move out of the way when it's time to deliver. I'm glad you've gotten yourself off to a good start. Have faith in your body and in this work. I would love to have started it during my child-bearing years.

You can run, and jump, and if you are in excellent posture you will only be helping your situation. Do learn firebreathing - best tool in the toolbox. Bend forward and jiggle those organs into the lower belly. Visualize yourself as a four-legged animal from the waist down, with a horizontal spine.

And you are so right, this absolutely is a wakeup call. I'm so very sorry for your loss, and I've love to see you take this prolapse thing on with all the energy and commitment and faith that you can muster. Because it really does work. Keep us posted. - Hugs - Surviving