can anyone shed any light on my experience please?

[beavington]

I have a dc who is nearly 2 and have begun thinking about TTC. This, along with sex with partner recently has got me thinking. Me and partner havent had sex much since dc was born due to various reasons including a snapped banjo string! But ive been having such strange sensations during sex, like pain but not pain?! It takes my breath away. Afterwards i have stomach cramps. Googling has told me this could be a retroverted uterus and dp is hitting my cervix during sex.

Internal examinations and sweeps while i was pregnant werent successful as midwife could not reach cervix and at one point she was going to try to 'walk it forward' but couldnt. This was quite painful when she attempted this. I was induced with dc and when at the pushing stage was told dc was wrong way and forceps / cs would be required.

After giving birth i had a smear test and comments were made then although i dont recall what, the smear itself was very painful.

So i ask anybody wise out there reading, do i have a retroverted uterus? And is this what midwife referred to when i was in labour about dc being wrong way? Would a similar scenario happen if my uterus stayed this way through another pregnancy?

Any thoughts would be helpful also i had two blood transfusions after birth. Does that mean i lost a lot of blood or just a bit in the grand scheme of pph?

Sorry i sound clueless. I had a lot of questions at the hospital but was in shock and just wanted to be discharged.

You can still go and have a birth debrief at the hospital that you delivered at, where you can go through these sorts of things with a midwife and your notes.

From the very little that I know, your DS being "the wrong way" might not be anything to do with the possible retroverted uterus. It could just have been that he was back to back, or presenting with a flexed neck rather than with his chin tucked down.

Also having two blood transfusions would indicate a very serious loss of blood after delivery. I had a emergency C section and lost about 900ml which was quite bad but not major and didn't need transfusions.

I have a retroverted/tilted uterus. Any nurse can tell you this during a smear - or just by looking. I think you can even work it out yourself based on whether your cervix is at the front or back of your vaginal wall - mine is on the front wall. It doesn't hurt during sex though so I don't think it's likely that it's due to your tilt. Maybe endometriosis?

I have a retroverted uterus too. I've been told they're very common. 1:4 iircc.

I used to have pain like you describe due to endometriosis, which has disappeared since dc2.

I have a retroverted uterus too - it generally rights itself half way through pregnancy, so unlikely to have caused your problems in labour as it would have popped into the normal position. I have had one back to back who needed forceps and two extremely quick and 'easy' deliveries subsequently. I find that oh does hit my cervix during sex and I do have a slightly fragile cervix so can bleed afterwards and certainly after a smear!

If you're confused, ask for a debrief, then you'll be much more prepared for next time. IME my subsequent deliveries were a totally different kettle of fish to my back to back, compound presentation first baby.

Thank you for replying. Ive always sort of blamed myself for how things went with last labour. I was quite lazy and inactive towards end of pregnancy and felt that this played a large factor in dc being 'the wrong way' as she maybe didnt get into position for that reason? So ive always vowed to do whatever i can to avoid it happening again if i had another dc. Its only recently ive thought that 'the wrong way' could have been reference to a retroverted uterus in which case a similar scenario may be unavoidable no matter how much yoga i do at 40 weeks

Ive searched for endometriosis on nhs site. Sounds like a terrible thing to suffer and fortunately i dont think i have it as apart from pain during sex and exhaustion (!) I dont have any symptoms. I still have an implant in so very luckily dont have periods at all.

Thank you embarrassed re the blood loss. I desperately wanted to leave hospital after giving birth and couldnt understand why they wouldnt let me go! I felt like i wouldve been fine without them. Its just curiosity that made me wonder.

Did you all get debriefed? You all seem to know what happened during your time at hospital. I dont feel i was told anything

I have a retroverted uterus, and both my dc were the wrong way around (back to back). I had no idea that they might be connected though, I'm not sure if there is a link.

My first dc was a long slow labour and the second was short but dd did get stuck. I was a home so the midwife used some alternative techniques to shake the baby around and get things moving. I'm glad I avoided the forceps...

I didn't have a debrief for either but I was aware of what was happening both times and asked for terminology to be explained. I also had afoul a present and we did talk about things afterwards. If you're feeling uncertain the I would definitely recommend speaking to the hospital to understand what happened during your birth.

In my experience though, your first labour can bear no relation to the second. Mine were really different despite the babies both being back to back.

Afoul?! A Doula!!

Oh and have a look at the "spinning babies" website. Lots of different ways of getting babies in the right position. I didn't do any of them before going into labour but the midwife made me do a lot of them when she realised dd was stuck...!

I didn't have a debrief, but I had a doula with me as my DP is anxious about medical things and I wanted a third person with me in case my DP fainted! She was fab, and wrote detailed notes about what happened when, which she gave me afterwards. I was also in hospital for a week after delivery and read my notes a lot and asked questions.

I think a debrief would be a really good idea for you, as you can go through your notes and ask the midwife any questions about anything you're not sure of.

Fetal position is much more to do with the shape of your pelvis than whether your uterus is retroverted or not.
I wonder if you might have some scarring or injury following the forceps delivery?
I sounds as if a chat with your GP and maybe a gynae referral might be the way to go.

Hope you work out what the pain is.

Just wanted to let you know that after needing a transfusion after my first I was put on a hormone drip during labour for DD and it prevented such a big bleed the 2nd time. So that can help.

Don't blame yourself for labour. I am not sure there are many women that active towards the effort. Maybe the baby needed you to rest....

Definitely don't blame yourself for the position of your baby! They just don't cooperate sometimes, nothing anyone can do about it. I've known plenty of women who were relatively active towards the end of pregnancy who have had breech, back to back or other positional issues.

Also, it's not "lazy" to be inactive at 40 plus weeks pregnant - it's normal and completely reasonable! I went 12 days overdue and was absolutely massive towards the end - no way was I going to be charging around or attempting yoga.

Thanks everyone asking for debrief seemed like waste of midwifes time but i think its the sensible thing to do before TTC as it could make me anxious through pregnancy if i did conceive. I will definitely raise all these questions when i get implant removed!

I guess I was also rather large during the end. Its good to know that my inactivity may not have been a factor. I do recall spending about 80% of my time in the last few weeks lay horizontally which is precisely what my midwife told me not to do