To ask if your post birth vagina looks very different?

[yadayadayesokay]

I gave birth 2 years ago and had forceps & an episiotomy. It was very traumatic and nobody examined me afterwards, I didn’t push for anyone to as I didn’t want anyone going near me.

Now I’m due to give birth again and thought I would have a look down there with a mirror, and wow it looks fucking disgusting. Sorry for TMI but while my labia looks the same, everything underneath looks rearranged, swirly and bumpy. It looks like an alien vagina.

Does anyone else look so different afterwards or is this very unusual?

lasttime i looked, it looked like someone had smacked it with a crowbar.

it was black and blue.

have not looked since.

My fanny is fine, but due to having a caesarian section and a large baby, my abdomen is shot!

For those of you who are getting your flaps in a twist over names, it is actually a serious point. Seriously. No joking.

Yes, I can see mine but only about an inch or less. The rest is inside and only my gynae is able to see that.

Let me tell you why it's serious.

I write about health and especially women's health for the media. Many of the women's health charities are very worried about the way some women cannot identify their vagina and vulva. They go to the dr with something wrong 'down there' the dr often misunderstands and cannot diagnose correctly.

The charities Jostrust, and The Eve Appeal are constantly posting diagrams on Twitter - and having articles on their websites about this- because a lot of women use 'vagina' for all their genitalia.

TV progs like Naked Attraction compound this when they speak about women's 'vaginas'- and of course no one can see them. All they can see if anything are labia.

Cancer of the vulva and vagina are rare, but do happen and in many women are misdiagnosed for years. Using the incorrect name when seeing a GP can cause confusion.

So maybe stop mocking and being downright nasty, and start understanding why naming the bits correctly can be very important in terms of health.

I looked once or twice not long after DC1 was born.

Never ever will I again. It still haunts me the mess that I saw.

DH is happy and I'm in no pain so I'll leave it to be a mystery.

@Shinycat I call mine my growler grin

In that case, I should probably call mine “The Panter”.

Found an artist who took plaster casts of 400 vaginas.

news.artnet.com/market/jamie-mccartney-vagina-sculptures-321901

If you google "wall of vagina" youll see that there really isnt a "normal" and they all look quite different. I imagine if youve had forceps and been cut, then you are going to have some scar tissue down there. Is your pelvic floor ok? If you have pelvic floor damage then that is more important than whether it looks a bit messy and there is help you can get for that if you ask your doctor to refer you to gynae

@JinglingHellsBells

You still here?

Bored are ya love, eh? Get a hobby.

@Branleuse And ignoring the GF, yeah I have seen the wall of VAGINA too. Quite interesting. And they ARE all different. All those VAGINAS.

There ya go folks.

A link to the wall of VAGINA!

news.artnet.com/market/jamie-mccartney-vagina-sculptures-321901

Oh don't start back tracking jingling.

If you're that concerned start your own bloody thread.

Thanks everyone for sharing, some of the vivid descriptions have made me laugh and feel a bit better that others have the same (and aren’t bothered)

My due date was yesterday and thanks for those who pointed out that pregnancy might be having an effect on the appearance, I stupidly hadn’t considered that!

And yes I plan to go to the doctors after this birth if the pain continues. I know it’s not right and need to get it seen to.

This article helps explain what is the vulva and what is the vagina

I can definitely see my vagina and it's definitely my vag/entrance to vag that has changed in appearance more than my vulva.

oh dear, I had to go back and read the thread to work out why youd put VAGINA in capitals. I forgot we had to be anatomically correct.
Yes, I do know the outer area is the vulva and which labia are which etc etc.
No I cant be arsed to always use the correct term when ive grown up calling it a fanny and still usually do. This isnt a medical appointment

Ahhh yeah, not pretty now unfortunately. Like a French bulldog with its tongue hanging out.

Cant we ever just talk about peoples foo-foos without having the same conversation about the correct latin names again and again. WE KNOW.

Changes of appearance to the vulva after giving birth is normal

Pain afterwards is not

See a gynaecologist
You deserve to be comfortable and not have pain

Who knows what theirs looks like? I have clearly led a sheltered life!

After dozens of surgeries one of which required over 200 stitches then I’m assuming it looks like Edward Scissorhands and I are intimately acquainted, but it works well enough after much physio so it’s ok with me.

I am going to keep on calling my lady parts my vagina. If I were to have any lumps, bumps or changes I am sure I could show my Dr on a diagram or in person.

I do feel the post about technical names come across as belittling and surely talking about your body should feel inclusive and safe.

@yadayadayesokay I second the women’s physio department! They did wonderful things for me following cervical cancer surgery and various other issues.

Three vaginal births in five years and yeah, it looks bloody awful!! No idea if it still works either (baby number three is 11 weeks old and I have had neither time nor inclination to try it out).

I saw a women's health physio after baby number two, which I think everyone should do because it was brilliant, and she said 'yes, there is quite a lot of gaping'.* Gaping. If I ever split with DH I will not be putting that* on my online dating profile.

This thread is brilliant haha

I once read a description sometime wrote that theirs looked like a lasagne that had been punched... Made me giggle. Thankfully, doesn't apply to me after two births, looks pretty much the same, phew. But when the midwife was stitching me up this time, she asked if I wanted to look at the finished result. I couldn't say no fast enough, after the birth I washed to forget that area existed for a while, let alone stare at it in a mirror!!!