Whole Woman Village Forum

I am currently 9 weeks postpartum now.My POP has been improving since finding this site(not so much the position,but feeling).My husband,however,is definitely ready for the "S" word,and I can not come to terms with the fact that "things are different there".I am so very afraid of all these things.It's like a train wreck when he wants to.I just brush him off and say maybe later.What if things get worse?What if it feels different for him?For me?What if I'm in pain?I don't know what to do.I am so mad and depressed over this.I just need someone to talk to.Sorry I am just venting about this.

I have had an a&p repair in conjunction with a hysterectomy in 1993 - not sure exactly the term for the a&p repair. It didn't hold so, then I got my second surgery in 2000 which was done with a graft augmentation. Now I am in worse shape than I have ever been. I am in chronic pain, have bowel dyfunction, and emotionally a mess. I was wondering if anyone has had a similar experience. I am going to stay away from further surgery because I can't see how my present state could be improved by any. I will be seeing a physiotherapist in a couple of weeks - my only hope of anything getting better.

I'm sure my story is similar to many on this site. But, I wanted to write a note to say hello and also to say that I feel a sense of hope now. I am turning 31 this month. I gave birth to my 4th child 5 weeks ago. After the birth of my 3rd child in 2004, I noticed in early postpartum a bulge... yes, that bulge. I feared prolapse and had my midwife examine me. She brushed it off and said I would heal. A different midwife at my 6 week visit said the same. It actually improved greatly and I forgot all about it. But, now that I think of it, I know that in general everything stayed "lower". I had a very gentle birth and gentle pushing stage with my fourth child 5 weeks ago.

i've given birth vaginally twice and had a d & c, plus with the first vaginal birth had the works (lots of drugs to bring labor on, suction, forceps, episiotomy which ended up facilitating a bigger tear) and 8 years later surgery to try to repair all of the damage. now i have stage 2 uterine prolapse, rectocelle and mid-incontinance (esp. around the time of my monthly cycle). i've gone the surgery route without much success and wear a pessary occasionally. i've been advised to do kegels by everyone including my physiotherapist and doctors (which i think can be a really good, natural solution); however, i find that the kegels have tightenend my anal sphincter more than my vaginal walls/canal. am i doing them wrong? i can't seem to isolate the vaginal muscles from the anal muscles. this may be related to the episiotomy and large tear i had to the perineal area during the birth of my first child?

sorry new here but i have read a lot of you do posture where do i go to learn about it or is it a book feel so dumb i have ordered the Bliss Balm cant wait till it gets here hope it works

Hi all

I have been googling this morning for some brief personal experiences of menopause. All I can come up with is products that alleviate symptoms, and vague general descriptions that I already know about. I am getting menstrual cycle changes, and must be getting closer to periods ceasing (menopause) as I am 54.

Can anybody point me to good websites where I can have a look at some personal experiences from women who have been through the whole process, particularly if they have done it without HRT?

Or can somebody please post, in 100 words or less, what they experienced over those years from when they realised that their menstrual cycle was changing, until they emerged from the other end and felt OK again? What happened, and in what order? My Mum is not much help. Her periods just stopped and nothing else happened.

I was fitted for a pessary a week ago Wednesday for a stage 2 cystocele and uterine prolapse. I was at the urogyn's office for more than an hour. She gave me a ring pessary with support and kept on going up in size as she thought I would lose it. I ended up with a size 5. I could not remove it in the office, however I thought perhaps it was because I was tense having eyes on me in a most undignified position. The urogyn told me to call if I couldn't get it out, make an appointment and she'd remove it for me...there is no way I was going to run back and forth to the office to have this done on a permanent basis!)

I'm 8 weeks PP. Had a episiotomy I wasn't told about till after the birth. Guess it had to be done. Hospital was too busy to care 4 me in labour and when they did bother to check they found baby was sufficating. She only has very minor brain damage guess it could of been much worse if not for the forceps delivery.

Anyway seem to have a rectocele. I have bowel trouble and now use laxitive everyday. I have the buldge but it has improved. Instead of always being there its now great in the morning, high n small and by night time its big and low. I've been trying the posture as much as possible but often get back aches. Feels like it's in the muscles like my back has to get stronger. Is this common? All my life I was told to pull my tummy in and tuck my tail under. Now trying to do the opisite is hard. When I use a mirror and do this I see my bulge go higher and smaller, it's amazing. My doc says I'm fine inside just streched but I look so much better lieing down which is how she's checked me.

Hi all,

When I came to Wholewoman almost 2 years ago, I was so thrilled to find an alternative for prolapse as opposed to the mainstream protocol- most of you know my story, so I won't go into it again. I've always believed we should listen to our intuition on what is best for us (and yes, I have failed on that score a couple of times). That conviction is now rooted in cement, not because of the following information, but because of age, experience and research. I had a call from a relative in Oregon who talked with the well-respected obgyn who helped deliver my youngest son 32 years ago. The relative had told the Doctor I had prolapse and didn't want surgery - his answer - "I'm glad, surgery won't fix it anyway. That's been a problem for women for years. Tell her to search for and do the exercises for prolapse. Possibly trying a slantboard."

Hi Everyone,

There has been a lot of talk lately about the pelvic “floor”, so I thought it would be good to do a little reframing…again…lol.

I’m very appreciative of Judy (Clonmacnoise) for sharing with us recently her discovery that the strongest kegels in the world didn’t change her prolapse. When she said that she also revealed to us her honesty and integrity. There have been many others who have posted “just you wait and see” messages that they were going to kegel themselves back to health…and then they’re never heard from again.

First of all, we truly have no pelvic “floor”. This terminology dates from a time when doctors believed the pelvis to be rotated backward ninety degrees! The pelvic outlet, when looked at with the pelvis in this position, looks just like a hole at the bottom of a basin. I went to a urogynecology conference a couple of years ago where an anatomy lesson was given illustrating the pelvic “floor” as a soft-tissue hammock hanging down between the front and back of the pelvis. Would a perfect universe create such a hopelessly imperfect structure? No way.