Rushing to the loo for bowel motions. Tell me this can get better :(

[wheelsfelloff]

Have namechanged for this. I had my DC nearly 8 weeks ago and sustained a third degree tear (3a) which was immediately repaired in surgery. I was fortunate to have very little pain whilst healing compared to others. I was on a lot of laxatives to begin with and in the first 10 days there were a couple of times when I suffered from urge incontinence for bowel motions and didn't quite make it in time . No problems re going for a wee. Since then everything has been comletely okay - until this morning when I had the same again, which was a bit of a shock. The midwifes all told me how common this is but it doesn't feel like it - I don't expect it to be the hot topic at NCT groups but even on the web it doesn't seem that common. Has anyone else experienced it and will it always be this way? I have a follow-up appontment at the hospital this week at the perineal clinic and will obviously mention it but just feel like I am the only person this happens to at the moment. Horrid.

just keep doing your pelvic floor exercises.

that makes blood rush to the muscle which quickens the healing process (as well as making it easier for you to control when stuff comes out)

i'm finding that I can hold a lot longer now (mine's for both), but i still have to rush when i get the urge.
(23 weeks on monday)

whenever you're sitting down, do them, whenever you're standing up, do them.
It's impossible to do them when walking (but i have tried! )

(oh, i had a cut and a tear)

Sorry to hear you have this too nickelbabe but glad you are improving. I had a cut and tear too.

I have been doing PVEs like mad but not always sure I'm doing them right so hoping to get a physio referral at my appointment. Did you have a follow-up appointment? Are there any questions I should be asking? (I'm making a list!)

I guess the fact that I haven't been inundated with replies mean this is not as common as my midwives would have me believe after all...

Oh my Nickel it can't be 23 weeks since your epic threads! Where has time gone

I had a 3c tear ( I think - the hospital's not really sure!) and I'm 14 weeks in and it's much better so please don't panic. I can't remember whenabouts exactly but it seemed like it suddenly got a lot better over a fortnight or so - there's plenty of time yet. It is horrid but I'm sure it will get better soon. I'm fairly certain too that all the bruising, especially if you had an episiotomy too, hasn't completely gone down by 8 weeks so that's probably impairing your feeling and strength in the area.
As Nickel says keep up the PVEs and I recommend post-natal yoga too if you can make it.
Also, I had a check at 12 weeks and the nurse checked I was squeezing the right bits - not dignified but useful so that might give you a bit more confidence.
Try not to worry - if it were any other muscle we'd torn we'd be a lot kinder to ourselves about giving it time to heal. It will get better, I'm sure.

I'm 8 months in and am seeing a real improvement over the last couple of weeks. Don't let that scare you I'm an extreme example! Plus the care here is shite, still waiting for referral to perineal clinic, for example.
Do your pve's like a mad woman.
If you can get a physio referral do so, they will check your baseline strength and monitor your improval rate.
Has anyone told you if your muscle is intact? If it is you will most likely regain tone, on whatever timescale.
A good thing to do is time yourself from initial urge to staining. Build up a good picture of that, it will be useful both to yourself and the hcp's.
I was quite down about it for a bit, though much improved now as I'm sure you will be too very soon. The important thing is to build up your pelvic floor strength as much as possible now. You may improve and think Job's done, but the menopause dies weaken the area and any niggles there may re emerge.

I had a third degree tear, was v worried i couldn't control myself afterwards. It did improve lots; mind you have to say I am not the same as I once was. I am 10 years on now, and it's not something that worries me unduly. Just after it happened for about 3 months I couldn't even control noisy farts!. At that point I thought I would never be able to go back to work ( well you couldn't could you?!?)

Ps. I think it is v common. Just not talked about as v embarassing

I did squeegle. Had to at 6 months! Was late my second morning (and a few others) waiting for nature to take its course before leaving the house. Luckily I've a boss that overlooks these things unless riled for some other reason. Am still going in with a change of clothes in the car. But saying all that, have never had an accident. Touch wood never will now. The improvements do come, honest, and like li say I wad extreme, op.

Thank you all so much for posting back to me and I'm glad things have improved for you all. I am fortunate that this hasn't been a daily occurence and this was the first incidence for six weeks. I think I may have overcompensated with a lot of prunes, apples and lentils after a couple of ouchy-ouch poos in the days before! I do worry about work as in my previous job I did go to some farflung places and I would hate the idea of getting a stomach bug in the middle of nowhere with colleagues . I would be sad if I could never travel for fear of getting the runs - but then if it didn't affect me too much on a day to day basis, then I would be very glad of that.

I do wonder how common it is Squeegle - a big study in the US found that 1 in 4 women had been affected to some degree after childbirth but it sure doesn't feel like that! I saw a thread the other day where lots of people were happy to admit to wearing Tena pads but this one is a step too far!

Bizarrely looking forward to my appointment this week, just to get an idea of how well I am healing and whether the muscle is intact. I count myself lucky that I get the aftercare I do.

Just posting to increase the number of 'me to's. I had a 3a tear and had to rush to the loo for weeks. It did get better though, and at my 6 week hospital check up I recall that things were improving. I reckon I'm back to normal now though.

I looked in the mirror down there this morning.
I tried to do a PVE while I was looking, and couldn't see anything move. :(

It's a long hard slog.
(I can feel my wee slow down flow when I do them as the test though! )

Positive wee test is good nickel!

I had my appointment at the hospital first thing and the good news is that the mw I saw thought that the fact that I hadn't had any ahem incidents for 6 weeks is asymptomatic of it being a problem with the muscle itself and more likely to do with a dodgy gut combined with a still weak pelvic floor - so I am on Pelvic Floor overdrive now! She thinks it is healing very well but I have decided to still have a scan in a few week's time (I don't want anymore DCs which is the main reason to have it but I'd still like to know the score!)

And lift...and squeeze...and lift...and squeeze...