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?

jingling

I don’t think anyone here has said they can see their entire vagina - your objection seemed to be to people saying they could see their vagina. Which they can, as can you as you say

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

The other posters probably don’t think they can see all of theirs either and I don’t think anyone has said they can.

As for mine, my vulva (just for jingling) looks the same but the actual entrance (or do I need to say introitus?) is a little more... gaping. Like I can actually see a little bit inside whereas I couldn’t really before. I have mild prolapses which I can see the start of as well - I’m far more bothered about my ongoing pain and dysfunction than what I look like down there though!

For the pedants, I think the OP is talking about her vagina which is why she said vagina not vulva. It’s the vagina that seems to change at childbirth. The vulva remains largely the same, although the labia may be distended.

If you’re squatting over a mirror then you can see your internal area quite easily - ok, granted, not all the way up to the cervix, but you can see your vaginal opening very clearly. After three babies I can see more than the opening, I can see a partially prolapsed rectum and bladder sitting in mine where I used to see an empty space.

That, my pendantic friend, is my vagina.

A run over bald badger that managed to run away

I'v 3DC, mine looks fine but I have to confess that I never paid it too much attention before the DC. I think regardless of what it looks like if you have pain you should see someone.

Mine looks exactly the same and I had an episiotomy 6 months ago. My GP said this week she's never seen one so neat and if I hadn't told her wouldn't of known it was there.

This thread is weird.
I had no idea some people held such strong views about wrongly naming anatomy and were prepared to be aggressive toward those using the correct terms. I have visions of some man hysterically screaming 'I will name my fucking penis my fucking scrotum and fucking well defend that right to the fucking death!'
Nicknames fine, we all use them. I go with foof as a general catchall.

Thankfully mine doesn't look any different, no difference in tightgness either.
But if it did, I'd be mightily pissed off. I liked my bits the way they were, and pregnancy took its toll on my body as it was; if it took THAT away from me, my nice vulva and, god forbid, sexual function, I'd have been off to the surgeon's office in a heartbeat.

I have absolutely no idea, do people often inspect theirs? I had a look after dc2 when I was worried about my stitches and it wasn't pretty but I didn't know what I was supposed to be looking for and no idea what it had looked like before. It works so I'm not too bothered what it looks like

I did laugh 5cm dilated and got told I was very elastic when the midwife was checking, still remember how matter of fact she was saying it 20 years ago.
I do laugh at how chunky mine looks now.

SpokeTooSoon and the confusion in what exactly the OP was talking about is exactly why we need clarity in language.

There was no confusion!

Everyone on this thread knew she meant her vagina. That’s why she said vagina.

Yes, people very often use the wrong words. But in this case, on this thread, she was accurate.

@HorseFlyOfExtraordinaryLengthsefly

Are you fucking kidding me right now?

The only one who has been a complete aggressive and nasty individual on this thread is the patronising individual who has seen fit to 'correct' women saying vagina instead of VULVA. Because she knows sooooooo much more than the women saying 'vagina,' and is soooo much more cleverer, and even gave a nice big condescending post telling us all about how we should all be saying it 'correctly.'

I'm looking at YOU @JinglingHellsBells

It’s just irritating that posters hear vagina and immediately pontificate about vulvas - it’s not always wrong.

I disagree

I've never looked. Thank god, after reading this thread!

Good for you! 🥳 We bow to your superiority and great knowledge oh WISE one!

couldn't have put it better myself.

But Spoke don't you agree that the fact that we are having this discussion indicates that many people are not sure.

Name one poster on this thread who appears not to know the difference.

God the vulva police... how can you be arsed?

In my case my vulva looks fine and dandy, I can definitely see my vagina!

horsefly you disagree that sometimes it’s ok to say vagina? Do I have a prolapse in my vagina or my vulva?

Am I allowed to go off topic a bit and ask if anyone has had varicose veins on their LABIA (not vagina in my case, but it could happen though) during pregnancy? This is my 3rd pregnancy and my left labia looks distinctly... erm, swollen and hangs down quite a bit. Bloody painful at times too. I am really hoping it does not stay this way after I give birth...

Like a wizard's sleeve.

And I had a c section.

They go to the dr with something wrong 'down there' the dr often misunderstands and cannot diagnose correctly.

I'm sorry, but what sort of useless doctor wouldn't realise if a woman said "I have a lump on my vagina", and actually had a lump on her vulva? Surely any medical professional would actually EXAMINE the patient.

Yes, varicose vein in the labia in two out of my three pregnancies. That was a treat.

Went away quickly after birth both times though.