What does your prolapse look like? TMI

Hi ricearoni,

This is very common after delivery and is most likely your cervix and with it your front vaginal wall. If you go to the forums at www.midwiferytoday.com you can read lots about it and post too. It's good to get an actual diagnosis, but the only way to pull it back up (which it may do on its own) is to allow the spine its natural shape and the breath its natural course. You can read lots about that here!

:-) Christine

Sorry we don’t have images of prolapse yet! I don’t know of any other sites where you can get reliable pictures of what you’re looking at. The surgical sites are blown all out of proportion and can also be misleading. I can’t tell you exactly what it is because I have no way of knowing. You could be seeing a prolapsed urethra, bladder, cervix, back vaginal wall, or all of the above. When the front vaginal wall protrudes it can bring with it the urethra, the opening of which moves back from its original position. Just know that what you are experiencing is very common and will more than likely recede when normal “involution” has taken place – in about six months.

Hi Ricearoni,

More reassurance for you................my uterus completely prolapsed to the vaginal opening a week after delivering my second daughter almost a year ago now. It is now not considered to be prolapsed at all I am told, and does not move down at all even when I bear down!

I also have a slight rectocele and cystocele which I have no symptoms with, and which I really can only tell I have when, and if I bear down, in which case the front and back vaginal walls bulge down a little. Things became a bit looser recently after a chest infection and lots of coughing but seem to have improved again now. This is a HUGE improvement from my initial state when my midwife stated, "everything has collapsed!" Things are MUCH tighter than soon after the delivery, and like Christine I believe that this state of "collapse" can be considered to be fairly normal. You just had a baby come out of there, things are bound to be stretched out. They will tighten up, don't worry, and don't waste valuable time with your precious baby fretting too much as I did. If I have one regret, it is that!

Put in to place the lifestyle and postural suggestions you find here, and I am sure that in very little time you will be back if not to normal, to normal for someone who has delivered a baby vaginally. I also found restrained kegels helpful, (while ensuring that the lumbar curve was in place), in helping more with toning the vagina generally. Another midwife I saw recently told me that things are never the same again after a vaginal delivery and that this is to be expected. Don't fear, you will be fine I feel sure, and congratulations on your VBAC, and your baby, what a wonderful experience for you!

Hugs,

Michelle.

Are you 100% sure you are peeing from this bulge or... Could it be that the 'angle of pee' has changed - Remember you have just given birth recently and your body needs time to 'regain its composure'

Here is a very vague picture of your vagina - http://www.coolnurse.com/images/vagina.jpg - It shows the vagina as a space but it isnt - It is a 'potential space' now a long hole like the pics always show...

I noticed that the 'angle of pee' changed after having my first child - and changed a bit more after no2 - But that is nothing deadly or anything.

What you describe (pointy bulge) - Is it reallllllly pointed or like a ball with a dot on the end?

My way of telling which i have found with help of my mother is this...

Its a bit TMI....

OK ....

You stick ya finger in (lol) And can you get your finger to go in a complete circle around this bulge?

I have a cystocele and a Uterine prolapse (in fact I have all three but we will concentrate on the Uterus and Bladder)

If you can go in a complete circle around a kinda sausage (sorta lol) - That is the Uterus - If it is like something is behind a wall to the front and you cannot go ALL the way around - Because it is behind a wall etc - That is Bladder you are feeling...

I will be a very honest woman and admit that I was in my THIRTIES (lol@me) before I knew exactly where I pee'd from - As in a lil hole just below the clitoris... I guess before finding the prolapse I didnt know myself 'down there' very well at all lol

But - I read on a website about women 'peeing like men' That if you stand in the shower and put one finger either side of the clitoris and kinda 'pull the skin upwards' you can direct pee like a man - I knew this for many many years and never tried it - But a few weeks ago I finally tried it and it is true - And this shows you exactly where you pee from lol

Anyways I digress in to my own silly world...

Remember that if you DO have a prolapse - All is not lost!

Impliment the posture on the FAQs page here - It will help - I had a grade2 prolapse and it was trying to get 'out the door' Now I have a grade1 very small prolapse and 99% of the time I dont even think about it...

You have recently had a baby and it will take time for things to regain their composure and semi-normality down there...

I kow it is impossible for you not to worry. But remember you are now in a family here who will help all we can and answer any questions that you have :)

Sue

Hi Ricearoni,

While I am not a Dr, and certainly don't want to scare you, my impression is that even with the various forms of prolapse which can occur, urine still comes out of the urethra. If it is coming from somewhere else, it may be that there is a small hole, or fistula in the anterior vaginal wall overlying the bladder. I am not saying that this is definitely what is going on, but you should probably get seen again if urine is not coming out of the urethra at all. Fistula's can be rapaired. Another member here, "Mermaids" had a similar thing if you can search for her posts.

Michelle.

prior to childbirth I, too, knew where the urine was coming from and yes the angle changed afterwards and I didn't inspect things until years later when I found my prolapsed bladder.
now I know that while the urine is indeed coming out of the urethra, I am so torn up 'round those parts that the 'hole' now seems situated slmost inside the vaginal opening. so when I pee, it does appear that the urine is coming from the vagina. which it isn't but it is. make any sense?

but I agree with you michelle, fistulas do happen and they can be repaired, which is why its so important to really know whats going on.

Well I am no Dr either... But from your description it sounds likewhat other posters have said - That something it up with the urethra...

If you are not able to run a finger around the bulge in a full circle - And from what you say I dont think you will be able to as it sounds like there is a bladder problem here...

I would agree with others that if the pee is coming out of the Vagina and not from the correct hole - That your Dr will tell you why this is happening and how to sort it out - And it could just be something simple like closing one hole and pee gets to another...

Sorry I am not a Dr and I have no hard and fast answers...

Sue

if you can run a finger around the whole thing it sounds like cervix
I think that if there is no prolapse and you insert a finger you should be able to run your finger along the walls of the vagina in a relatively smooth circle. bulge to the front = bladder and/or urethra,
bulge to the back = rectocele, something in the center sounds like cervix/uterus

when I first noticed a bulge I was determined to figure out where it was coming from, I contorted myself into all sorts of positions and with the help of a mirror found a position where the bulge would recede completely (or almost completely). knowing that that's where the bladder normally is, let me know what the bulge was.

or you can try gently pushing the bulge back to where it is coming from. if you can push it up, its most likely uterus/cervix. (as opposed to forward or towards your rectum)