Is it a prolapse?

[PhoebeBear]

I had my son 4 weeks ago via forceps delivery and it was a very traumatic birth. The week following I was obviously in some pain and noticed standing for long times and especially walking would leave me feeling very achy and sore down there, it would feel like a heavy dull ache and quite honestly- like my vagina is going to fall out. I got my midwife to check and she said everything seems fine and my episiotomy and tear was healing well. The pain continued until it got to the point even standing in the shower would hurt me. I went to the hospital and they said I had an infection in my stitches and gave me antibiotics, straight away I was back to feeling like myself and I had no pain at all. Now I've finished the week long course of antibiotics the pain is back again 😔 I feel like I want to cry! I knew it wasn't the stitches that was wrong as the pain is inside my vagina and not on the outside. Again, a heavy dull ache and I can't walk long. Anyone else experienced this?

I’d say 4 weeks is very early to worry. I have a 5 month old, lovely pool delivery but she was enormous. The first month was awful, I was honestly convinced I had quite a bad prolapse as I felt just as you describe. I’d had some bleeding during pregnancy, and before too, so I had a colposcopy due at 4 weeks postpartum so I asked the lovely doctor when I saw her and she took it very seriously but again told me it was very early days. Luckily she saw nothing to worry about, and actually from there on it improved massively, 6 weeks was a definate turning point in feeling back to normal. I’d give it a little while but make sure to chase it up if you still don’t feel right. I wasn’t prepared psychologically how it made me feel fwiw, I spent so long worrying about being broken and it really ruined the first few weeks.

It might be a prolapse, I've had one after each of my 4 children but after trying to remember to do pelvic floor exercises as much as I could, everything usually goes back to normal after 6-8 weeks.

Definitely mention it at your 6 week check up with the doctor though and if any referrals need to be made then at least you've got in there quickly. In the meantime do your pelvic floor exercises as much as you can remember to.

@lyingwanker thank you for your advice. In your situation you said it goes back to normal? Do you believe it's just early days and with excerises everything will be fine? I'm just freaking out so much!
@AwkwardAsAllGetout thank you too for the advice. I've been so upset since having my baby and crying every day- I just want to be a good mummy to him and now his dad is back at work I'm finding it difficult with the feeds and nappy changes as I cannot move too much without this pain happening. Just need a good cry and let it all out 😔

Hi OP,

I had exactly the same delivery and PP issues as you describe. I gradually got better over about six months and fine now. See a women's physio for reassurance, but most women will have some kind of prolapse or laxity in the weeks following a vaginal delivery.

And do your pelvic floor exercises - they work!

Best of luck

Ask to be referred further to gynae. There will be things they can do to help.

@Badgergirl123 thanks for your story- I hope my experience is similar and it goes away on its own.
I've just been to see a gyno and in fact do have a prolapse, he just recommend excerises to help

PhoebeBear, did he give you any more support than that? Didnt refer you on?

I honestly think gynae issues in womenafter childbirth in this country are really not taken seriously. You had a forceps birth and have sustained some damage. I think the fact that so many gynaes are men is unhelpful.

Did they tell you what sort of prolapse you have or to what degree?
I had vaginal wall prolapse on both sides, and I insisted on seeing a woman, and they were a lot more sympathetic. I got referred on to a modified pilates class, and then a modified circuit class with a group of other women, and its been brilliant. My symptoms are so much better that i was signed off after about 6 months.
I have the squeezy app on my phone, and that has been very good as it reminds me to do my exercises 3 times a day and gives me a visual aid to do them. I do ten long squeezes and holds, of ten seconds clench, ten seconds release, and then a series of ten fast ones.
After a few months of doing these, there was huge improvement, and i dont feel like my insides are falling out anymore.
You also need to be careful with the way you lift things. You need to be aware of your pelvic floor day to day. and there are some exercises you should do, and some you need to definitely avoid such as running, jumping, pull ups

@Branleuse I completely agree with you there! I wish I was seen by a nurse as he was completely useless and I feel like I didn't get the results I was hoping 😔 he did not even tell me what kind of prolapse or what stage either. I must say I told him I was scared when he inserted the speculum and I actually ended up crying, he used a smaller on for about 3 seconds then sat me down- said it 'looks' like a prolapse oh and there is a lot of discharge, I said yes I have thrush from the antibiotics I was on... he seemed more concerned about that rather than the fact my vagina is falling apart. I've just rang up the hospital I gave birth at and although we only spoke over the phone, the lady was a lot more understanding. She says keep on with the pelvic floor excerises as they do help but it's still early days.
Also thank you for your story as it's made me feel more hopeful that if you keep up with P F excerises it will help. I guess I have to be patient. I'm also cutting back on my long walks as I feel that's when it gets worse x

From my own personal experience everything does go back eventually when you do the exercises. I think hormones relax all the fibres and muscles down there during pregnancy and it just takes a bit of time for everything to firm back up again.

I get a cervical prolapse after delivery. So my cervix actually pokes out of my vagina entrance. It's worse after I've been on my feet a while or gone heavy lifting or jobs like hoovering the stairs. It also feels achey and full down there. I've been lucky that it's never affected my bladder really beyond a few niggling issues in the early couple of weeks after births.

If you don't start to see a gradual improvement after the next 6 weeks I'd go back to the GP.

After my 1st baby at age 20 I had the prolapse and the doctor just casually mentioned it in passing and I didn't even know what he meant. I went to see my inexperienced GP who then told me I might never have any more kids!! You really do have to keep pushing for the right doctor to see you if you do end up not recovering properly. Some GPs don't have a clue

@lyingwanker your description of your prolapse sounds like mine.. it's a heavy dull ache and definitely gets worse when standing or walking. I've been getting pains in my lower abdomen since getting checked out this morning so I'm PRAYING that stupid doctor hasn't made things worse for me but so far I think he has 😔 I just want to cry my eyes out.
I'm doing the excerises as we speak so hopefully it can help. I'm glad it doesn't look like it's coming out my vagina but when looking in the mirror it all looks 'dropped' and my pee hole looks huge..
What us women go though is a hell of a lot! I honestly hope I never have to go though this again.
P.S I got told sake thing about 'not being able to have anymore babies' and this was before the doc even had a look at my vagina.. so useless

At 20 years old, 15 years ago before information was as easily accessible as it is now, I was absolutely devastated after the doctor told me that! I saw another GP a while after that one who told me not to worry, there were still plenty of options, some would have to wait until after further children were born but some could be done now if necessary.

I've had 4 kids, and a couple of other unsuccessful pregnancies now and my youngest is 2 years old. My pelvic floor is ok, I'm obviously able to conceive and carry pregnancies and my vagina is in perfect shape (don't mean that to be TMI but it was an added worry of mine!!). I don't have any incontinence issues but my cervix is still lower than a normal persons. However, I reckon it always was to be honest. It doesn't cause me any issues and even after a full day of walking nothing changes down there. At my last smear test the nurse said that as I get older it might start to become a problem again but not to worry at all because there's a very routine and simple procedure to fix it. I've not looked into it yet because everything is fine and I'm almost 35 but definitely done with having children!

@PhoebeBear I spent months worrying about prolapse after DS was born 3 years ago. I'd feel a heavy ache when standing and some discomfort around vagina area generally. GP said they couldn't see anything but tbh it was v early days and I didn't follow up after that. However my pee hole looked much lower down (closer to vagina if that makes sense) after birth and also big. Was quite shocking! Over time everything feels much better and now I'm running and everything and never had bladder leaks etc. My pee hole is still lower down but is normal sized (lol the things we speak about on MN!). Sometimes around AF it gets achy down there but otherwise I feel fine. It's hard coming to terms with how our bodies change, but you're definitely not alone and time honestly is a great healer for this type of thing x

@catsandkid thank you so much for that advice- you don't know how reassuring that is to hear! Today he is exactly 1 month old and I got my period back, I'm in agony and I read on google it gets bad around this time so it's good to know that once it's over I should be back to slight discomfort. I also said the same thing about my pee hole! Lol I could of wrote your post myself. It looks huge! And yes the same - lower down.

So if you mind me asking how long until you were back to normal and also did you do anything for the pain x

@PhoebeBear I didn't take anything for the pain on a day to day basis as I wasn't really in pain - it was more of a general feeling of things not being quite right (a drooping, full feeling). During AF I take the usual paracetamol and stuff as my whole V aches and throbs!

I did buy a Kegel8 machine ~11months PP after doing a lot of online research. I used it once a day for around 5 weeks maybe (sometimes missing a few days here and there too) and I think that must have helped as after that I was able to ramp my exercise up without worrying so much. Prior to that I was always petrified of doing any impact exercise in case it got worse or I did something to make all my organs fall out I started couch to 5k at about 18mths PP and found it didn't get worse or cause any issues when running so I've managed to keep up running which is great.

I'd say that sometimes I still get some kind of dragging/heavy feeling now if I've been on my feet all day walking around and stuff but that is the extent of it - nothing more than that. I think feeling 'normal' again is about finding your new normal tbh and learning what you can do without worrying about making things worse. It was the mental worrying that was far worse than the physical feelings for me!

Not sure if it's relevant either...but I didn't get my period back until DS was 7 months old so I had tons of hormones flying around for a long time after birth (never breastfed so no idea why it took so long to return). By the time my period was back I felt more whole I think.

@catsandkid not sure if it was period as by the second day I have only slight slight bleeding whereas on the first day it was heavier and clots too.
I've found today it's more of a uncomfortable feeling like feeling the 'bulge' rather than pain. Maybe it will get better with the excerises but you're right- maybe this is the new 'normal' x

Hey ladies, just wanted to post a quick update- I feel so much better now!
I was on my period when the pain became quite bad but 2 weeks later and I feel no pain at all apart from long walks make me feel like wanting to sit down now and then, but definitely not as bad as before. I've spent the weekend away on holiday and enjoyed it (even managed to have intercourse since having my baby) and it wasn't as bad as I thought.
I've been keeping up with pelvic excerises but I also believe time helped.

It takes time for everything to sort itself out down there IME.

I was freaking out quite recently, convinced I had a prolapse. Turns out I have vaginal varicosities - basically varicose veins in my vagina. They were being exacerbated by a yeast infection. The varicosities feel bulgy and heavy, like the descriptions of prolapse online, but they’re not harmful and even my husband has no idea they’re there. Vulvar ones are more common.

I’m not saying that’s what you have, but there are lots of possible explanations - it’s not necessarily prolapse.

Oh - and I also find that the sensation associated with them is stronger during my period.