Planning a pregnancy with existing prolapse

Body: 

Hi ladies. Here is a quick history of my experience with prolapse to start with. During my third pregnancy I developed a rectocele. This was only apparent from 10-16 weeks then seemed to disappear completely. During my fourth pregnancy the rectocele re-emerged at 9 weeks and also it was found that my uterus was slightly prolapsed. This improved from week 14 until week 20 and after pregnancy did not bother me at all, things do feel more "loose" down there but nothing bulging out.

I am now approaching 2 years postpartum and I'm planning my fifth and certainly my last pregnancy. I am fearful about the impact this will have on the state of my prolapse. So im partly looking for reassurance from ladies that have entered into a pregnancy with a known prolapse. My doctor has assured me this is fine to do, the main thing is that it is uncomfortable for me but will not affect the health of the pregnancy. Still scary though, knowing that my uterus is now involved. Also, any advice for minimizing the impact on my current prolapse situation would be welcome. Currently the plan is to continue working out during the pregnancy so I wont have excessive weight gain, also to manage constipation early and seriously!

Thanks for reading and for any words of comfort or advice!

Hi princess and welcome,
There have been many of our moms that have successfully had multiple births while managing prolapse. Put some key words in the search box to find these threads.

Have you had a chance to look at the whole woman work on this site? The best way to manage or keep prolapse at bay is the whole woman posture and work.
Christine has actually just come out with a new video for the postpartum moms during the childbearing years. She also has the goddess belly DVD and the Second wheel yoga DVDs for the post partum moms out there, although we can all benefit from these great videos.

Take some time to look around this site, and come back here with any questions about this very important work.

Hi princess,
My rectocele appeared while pregnant with my second.
I wasn't told what it was and not to worry, so I didn't and had my third baby no bother as well.
I now know that prolapses get out of the way during birth.

All the best,
Aussie Soul Sister

It's great to keep active and work out during pregnancy, but do try to delve into the wealth of knowledge on this site, so you aren't doing things to aggravate an existing or potential prolapse. You MUST keep the belly relaxed and the chest pulled up strongly. If you are tightening up in the abdominal "core" area, you are asking for problems later. Learn WW posture, and make sure all your workouts are supporting that lumbar curvature, not flattening it, which forces the organs down and back into the vaginal space. - Surviving

OK, Im going to need to learn about the whole woman posture. I do a lot of running, walking and hiking. Im already running into troubles as I've been on medication for ivf which all cause constipation and the progesterone causes things to get loose. Things droop down during and after a run whereas even 6 wks postpartum I could do some running without this so I'm hoping this is just the meds. I do core work also and you're making this sound like it would be bad for my prolapse. Looks like I have some things to learn!

Thank you, thats encouraging to hear. I will try searching up some other ladies posts. I need to learn about the whole woman work. I have done some reading on here during my other two pregnancies but then it was not an issue for me in between, I think it might become an issue this time. I want to avoid any surgery after this next baby. My mother also had a uterine prolapse with her 7th pregnancy and ended up with a hysterectomy afterwards. I want to be prepared to manage it on my own. I will look into the postpartum dvd's.

Thank you for your response! Your situation sounds similar to mine. I am also having my uterus prolapse now though and that's the more worrisome one to me because thats the one I can feel. Things feel droopy in there and I know its going to be really uncomfortable for the first half of this upcoming pregnancy. I can get through that. I know im pushing my luck but im hoping so hard it will be manageable afterwards like its been the other two times.