Struggling... So many questions and fears =(

Body: 

Hello all,
I have been lurking for a few days, am so thankful for this forum. I know that a major piece to this diagnosis is spiritual and psychological but right now, I am needing facts. I am a researcher by nature, need to gather all of the information and then make the best choices for me and my family. I am hopeful - and so thankful - in advance for those who consider and comment on my topic.

I am 34 yo and have 3 children. I am almost 5 weeks postpartum and right now 10 pounds to my pre-pregnancy weight. I am not overweight and am moderately active. I liked to run and weight lift. I self diagnosed a stage 2 or 3 cystocele depending on the diagnosing scale. Found at 3 weeks post partum (why does that happen!!?? Why not right away !?). Bulge immediately visible when spreading labia coming from anterior vaginal canal. Not coming out, slight discomfort (feeling of falling out). I can push it anteriorly back into place pretty easily. Doing a Kegel does not move it at all, moving into WW posture does a little! No incontinance or any issues with toileting.

My post partum check up will be in 2 weeks. All 3 of my births were scheduled induction with a epidural. But with my last, it was the easiest - which makes no sense to me. 4 pushes and baby was here.

Briefly spoke with my obgyn, and she recommended Kegels. I am not doing them right now. I ordered Christine's book and first aid for prolapse. Here are my questions:

Squatting advised against by obgyn... Is it single squatting movements or reps that can injure? I read on other sites that toile ting while squatting can be healing.

Have you ever heard of cystocele being completely gone? I am not talking about "no symptoms," I mean total recovery...

How should I be sitting? Leaning back? Straight up? WW sitting posture?

Squatting instead of bending at waist to pick up or put away light items?

Should I try not to cross my legs?

Barre classes? Type of yoga recommended?

Should I sleep on my belly to move bladder anterior?

WHAT ABOUT SEX!!??

These are the few questions that I can't stop thinking about and can't find any opinions on while searching the web. I am just so upset about this, mourning my old body. Why doesn't anybody ever talk about prolapse??!! I would have everything I could while pregnant and before to prevent this if I thought this could ever happen to me. Thanks in advance for your opinions and sharing your experiences.

Hi 2girl1boy and welcome,
5 weeks is still really early in your post partum recovery when it can take up to 2 years for your body to recover after having a baby. In that time your cystocele could go away, but I must tell you that if you don't start adopting the natural posture, whole woman posture, these symptoms can return at an older age.
Cystocele is very manageable with this work. And you have the rest of your life to adopt it and learn how important the benefits are to your whole body and well being.
Do lots of reading and take this work seriously, and you will come to understand what so many of us have learned and come to trust in Christine's well thought out work.
To some of your questions:
As long as you can hold the posture strongly, you should be able to do just about anything, but it takes time and patience to get all the aspects of the posture down and train your body into it.
As far as toileting goes we like to do a half squat just leaning forward hovering over toilet or just with thighs touching. All this is in the book.
Crossing your legs works against the natural posture. You should sit with feet flat on the floor, if in a chair, and in whole woman posture. There are also sitting positions in the DVD.
It doesn't matter how you lay down, because that is when the pressure is off your organs. It is when we are up and about that intrabdominal pressure plays its part in situating and pinning our organs in the lower belly where they belong.
You can squat, but you really need to be sure you are doing it in strong whole woman posture, and then lifting won't be working against your prolapse.
I would recommend the whole woman yoga DVDs. Traditional yoga has a man's body in mind, not a woman's.
And, sex is great! I have a profound uterine prolapse, and sex is one of the things that really helps get her up there where she belongs.
Most of all, try to relax, do lots of reading to comprehend of all this ,and enjoy that new little one.

Excellent suggestions from AG and I just want to add that I had two large babies and felt quite bulgy for awhile after each. I was never one to poke around down there and I really didn't think there was anything too surprising about feeling that way after giving birth. It did go away on its own after awhile, but returned after menopause. I would have loved to have had this knowledge and made this postural correction during those childbearing years.

I also did quite a bit of kegeling on and off over the years. Hopefully you have read some of Christine's writings on this subject. If not, go over to the Blog tab and put "kegel" into the search box, you'll find several articles very much worth reading. You will be ditching kegels after that (if you haven't already!).

In the book (Pregnancy chapter) you'll find a good theory of why this usually happens a few weeks out from delivery, instead of right away. It's all about the posture and spinal shape, and why you don't want to spend too much time PP with your spine collapsed into soft furniture. In correct posture, gravity and movement are GOOD for prolapse.

I think that lifting weights can be a dicey thing. Weight-loading from above is actually good for prolapse if you are in posture because it helps keep the vagina closed and the organs out of that space. But how you hold yourself when lifting is probably quite critical and I don't know much about that type of workout. But as AG says, once you understand and practice correct posture there is very little that can't be done, with or without some modification.

This work is all about getting the organs forward and keeping them there with correct posture, belly-breathing, and gravity. It helps to picture yourself as the centaur who is horizontal from the hips down, and vertical from the waist up. Jiggle the organs forward and use Christine's firebreathing when you are especially symptomatic. The organs are always on the move, and any "diagnosis" is nothing more than a snapshot.

You'll be fine when this sinks in and starts to become self-evident. It is life-changing and will restore your faith in your body for the wonderful work that it has already done, and has yet to do. Good luck and keep us posted. - Surviving

Thank you surviving and aging! I really appreciate your responses. I am looking forward to reading the book and starting the exercises (been doing the little clip on YouTube 3x's per day) - my older two do it with me.

Has anyone had successful Bar Method (or another barre knockoff) workouts? I am looking forward to getting back into something... Holding off on weight training for at least a year when I have the posture second nature a little more.

I am breast-feeding. Right now, in the night, I sit up in bed and try to have a pillow behind lower back. Should I just be getting up and moving to a chair instead?

I do not know anything about the Bar Method so if you want to share something about it (method for what, is my first question) feel free. The important thing is not compromising posture and lumbar curvature and avoiding those obtuse body angles that Christine talks about in the exercise section of the book.

The more upright you can sit, and the more you can protect lumbar curvature, the better your breastfeeding position. With that in mind, you can certainly vary the location. Just think about not collapsing the lower spine. - Surviving

Ok, so I looked up the bar method, and it says it is based on ballet mixed with Pilates, weight training, yoga, core strengthening, etc. All I can say is that if it requires you to suck in your gut and tuck in your pelvis, and you cannot maintain whole woman posture during these routines, then it is not prolapse friendly. That is the problem with most of these programs, they don't have a woman's body in mind.

Thanks AG for checking that out. Yeah, 2girls1boy, I think you might want to watch this, for a little more background (especially the last half):
https://wholewoman.com/newpages/video/ww101.html

This is the video that, on the original WW Village website, used to be called "Whole Woman 101", for good reason. - Surviving