Too late?

So glad to hear more from you lately as we signed up here at about the same time and I feel a kinship :-)

I wanted to clear up my timeline. Currently I'm over a decade postpartum so the "event" that brought me to WW seems more connected to perimenopausal changes. Perhaps a shrinking of the uterus and subsequent shifting??? I'm not a poker/prodder but just experimented with honey for the first time the other day and definitely felt a bulge.

That aside, it's only been in retrospect that I was able to trace my symptoms back to when I was pregnant with my third. I didn't have intense symptoms after the birth, but they were there and I just plowed along my merry way telling myself that there was nothing that I could do, but hope to put off surgery for as long as possible. Had I only known about WW I wouldn't have been waiting, but actively helping myself.

Sorry for the confusion!

Snapcracklepop

Hi All,

Just wanted to add that I can relate to both these prolapse periods. Undeniable rectocele following second delivery 10 years ago- did nothing (nothing worthwhile anyway) and then had anterior prolapse that I can attribute to a number of things but feel confident the perimenopause hormonal rollercoaster played a role.

I just wanted to say that I had been really down the last few days/weeks or so...very blue and very bulgy no matter what WW tools I seemed to try. Then started my period yesterday- clouds cleared and bulges are much higher. sigh. The only thing that I felt comforted by during this time was knowing that by living in WW posture I truly was doing all I could to help my prolapse and my body. It was not only the best that I could do, it's the ONLY thing to do. Remember that helped a bit.

Hang in there Wstrawberry (and SafelyHeld and all the others)....it's never too late. It just isn't necessarily a smooth ride. You still have lots of pp healing time and that seems to be the very best time to rearrange those organs back into the right spot. Who knows how much symptom alleviation any of us will get over time, but regardless- you are doing exactly what you should be doing.

Also want to add- and Christine would know far better than I about this- but my guess is that there isn't necessarily a large 'measurable' difference between symptomatic prolapse and asymptomatic prolapse. WS, I sense you feel guilty, that you somehow really messed things up for yourself because of your weight lifting session....but my sense is that if you already noticed that 'things looked and felt different' that the prolapse was already occurring. You may have crossed that line from seemingly asymptomatic (though you'd already noted something) to symptomatic following lifting- but who knows if perhaps that sensation could have come following lifting your baby, or groceries, or carrying laundry....my point is that change in awareness of your pelvic organs may have come from any number of daily movements...it's one of those unknowables I'm afraid. We all have them...it's the 'what if's' in life. You've been working on WW for a very short period of time- please take heart and don't blame yourself for doing something- for taking the time- to take care of yourself. Weight training, like yoga, is still good for your body- it's just that until we all happened upon Christine's work, none of us knew how to truly take care of our bodies properly.

All the best WS!! :)- gr8fl

Dear Wildstrawberry,
I would suggest leaving the weights alone for a while.
I have always wanted to lift weights, however I am in the process of working out a WW safe way to do that and may have to just know that WW is enough....

I would also suggest working on the posture, making sure you are relaxing the lower belly, and if you can do some WW walking, that will help your postpartum recovery & from the effect of lifting weights.

If you can do the DVDs designed for postpartum women - it is effective and challenging, however designed for womens' bodies to be safer than other common approaches.

After healing my hip and straightening out my contracted muscles and fascia, and bent limbs, using the Save Your Hips DVD, I tried weights, very slowly over some months, at my own risk as an experiment, however if they are not lifted with WW principles, further prolapse can occur as started to happen to me.

I stopped a few weeks back and when I realized what I had not being doing them correctly, I went immediately back to the posture basics, concentrating on the relaxed lower belly.

My symptoms have reversed, and are better than ever.

I am almost 3 years into this work, still learning and adapting to this journey.

I am very aware that I would like to be as strong as possible along with the protectiveness of WWP and exercise, into the next half of my life.

I was also mindful that I felt the need to show my DH that I could lift things around like furniture, but right now I find a different way or ask for help or refuse, until I know whether absolutely correct posture is able to be employed.

I have started occasionally experimenting with weights again, however even though I started very slowly in the beginning of my first experiment, as the weights become heavier, it is harder to hold and stay in the posture, so now an even slower process, which is good anyway....

Christine has said that long muscles are strong muscles.
The conventional approach is to shorten and tighten them, which can constrict all bodily functions, squashing internal organs, bones and joints, and contributing to pop.

That is why I use some of Christine's exercises to do some of the weights which makes lifting them more challenging, however if I only get to a very few kilos in weight, or if I don't the benefits of Christine's WWP & exercise are enough.

Fundamentally, I can strengthen my body very happily by concentrating on all the WWPosture, WW DVDs and walking and running, using a squeeze ball with my hands for their strength which I found waning.

Sitting in the 3 positions, rotating them is strengthening exercise in itself.
WW walking is full body exercise, including effective abdominal exercise in itself....

That is why Christine's approach is so holistic - her whole program is enough...

You will be fine Wildstrawberry if you really ground yourself in the basics, and as you can see, we all have challenges, and even though I found the last setback embarrassing, very confusing and a slow realization of the cause, & think by now I should know..... I have realized that with WW there is always a road back...and I learn so much on the way on every level....

Now, I am even better living proof that WWPosture works...

Wishing you all the best,
Much love,
Aussie Soul Sister