how long did it take your pelvic floor to heal?

[miniegg]

hello
i had a long and difficult labour nearly four weeks ago now, which involved nearly three hours of agonising pushing, followed by a ventouse delivery.
I'm really upset to find that I'm leaking really badly if I do anything more than walk. (i ran a few paces and leaked so badly..)
I've been doing my kegels religiously and the strange thing is that the muscles feel quite strong when I'm doing the exercises, but obviously they are not. the other thing is I still can't stop my urine flow midway, though I can slow it down a bit.
Am I doomed? how long does it generally take t heal?
I love exercise - particularly jogging, (though obviously it's still way too early to be thinking of doing that and I wasn't planning on starting again for another few weeks anyway)and would be devastated if I can't do it any more.

Hi Mini
Congrats on your new baby hope you're enjoying him/her

My cousin had a similar experience to you. very long and difficult labour, was left with a catheter for 2 days and incontinent. I seem to remember it took several months for her to regain full control, but it did come back and she was back runing marathons within a year. She also did her kegels religiously before and after but need to go and see and gynae physio (I think) to get some specific exercises.

I had a long and difficult labour too and even though I didn't have the leakage it took a couple of months before I didn't have to run to the loo and could stop weeing midstream (not something you should make yourself do very often btw).

There's lots of things you can do while you're healing, pads obviously but also make yourself go to the loo every hour or so even if you don't feel the need to.

I would pop in and see your GP and get the ball rolling for some extra help.

miniegg - Get yourself referred to a physical therapist. There are specialists who help you recover your pelvic floor.

Mine was never leaky on its own, but sneaking was risky. I was referred to a specialist and rapidly recovered. She said that it was important to strengthen the pelvic floor now, so as not to be incontinent in later age.

See your doctor and get a referral to the hospital physio. I had a difficult birth with a third degree tear and lots of problems after (similar to you), but I have been seeing a physio at my hospital and I have this machine to use (on loan from the hospital) and things are getting better for me. I'm now 9 months after the birth, and whilst things are still not yet perfect, I am encouraged that through the machine and exercise I can correct it. But as my physio warned me, leave it at your peril - it'll end up with an op later on in life. So it is really important to do something about it now!!
HTH

i don't have a leaking problem but a prolapse (that's when your bladder drops into your vagina a bit) after giving birth to 9lb baby 6 weeks ago (my 3rd). it was a v quick birth and i've never been good at doing my exercises ... i now have a v heavy, dragging feeling in my pelvic region, almost like my internal organs want to drop out (eek...!)

my gp referred me for physio and had first session today ... she is hopeful it will correct with exercise, but i feel like a right fool for not doing my exercises after babies 1 and 2

is anyone else going through this?

Yes I have. Similar sort of thing...with DD1 I have a very long labour (5 days) and a traumatic labour culminating in a failed ventouse and finally a forceps delivery with episiotomy(sp).
Didn't really have any problems until I had DD2. She was a BIG girl and after her I felt the same, very loose with a prolapse hanging down. Got really freaked out when i bent over to have a look . So I went to the GP who sent me to the hospital.
Saw Womans Health Physio a couple of times who really helped, both physically and mentally and now DD2 is 9 months I don't feel as bad about it. Only real problem I have is that I can't wear tampons, plus the prolapse will probably get worse with age (will have to have a surgical repair in time).
The hardest thing for me to deal with was that I felt it shouldn't be happening to me, I'm only 32 and I felt that prolapses only happened to old women.

Remember it taked ages for your body to recover from pregnancy and birth.
I was just beginning to feel ok again after DD1 when I found I was pregnant with DD2. I am now swimming like mad to try and get my muscles in some order.

so sounds like your prolapse has got much better through exercises alone ... is that right? how long did it take?

i also had my first two babies very close together ... it really takes its toll physically. likewise don't want to feel like an old lady (am only 35)!

Yes and no. The physio said the exercises will not fix the prolapse, they will stop it getting worse. However as time's gone on it has been better is as much as I can't feel the fullness anymore when I walk, nor can I see it poking out when i bend over (sorry for graphic details!).

that's great it's improved ... hope mine goes the same way!
x

It's so reassuring to read a thread like this. Had very similar experience of slight leakage after no 1 (long second stage), but got better after weeks, then got much worse during second pregnancy when I had viral cough that would not go away. 2nd baby ended up being 11lb and had real problems for as long as I was breastfeeding, despite seeing a physio regularly (though truth be told, I'm not as good as you all seem to be about doing enough repetititions each day). But, I found DRAMATIC improvement about 2 months after I stopped breastfeeding, so that I can now run and lift without worrying. By the way, my physio reckons that every time you lift something heavier than your baby, you undo a set of exercises during the period before your muscle tone has returned to non-pregnancy state. She is really quite insistent about not carrying shopping/baskets of wet washing etc. I thought this was totally impractical. BUT, I have just been away for work for 2 weeks and haven't had to lift a finger and for the first time in 2 years, realised that I just didn't even have to think about it for the whole time I was away. However, just discovered I'm pregnant again and that will be 3 babies in 3 and a half years and am terrified of what that means. And all this just seems to be a problem that I don't share with my girlfriends despite all our other talk about stitches/stretches and sore nipples. Have to say my husband has been fantastic though, laughing me out of it when I get upset about the old lady syndrome.

Its is really hard to talk about. I regularly was in tears at the physios. It doesn't help when nobody warns you about what may happen and the damage to the pelvic tissues.

Good luck with the pregnancy. My physio said its the second and fourth that do the most damage so you should be ok [fingers crossed emoticon]

By the way, I stopped doing my exercises when I gave up breastfeeding. I havr two undet 3 and I never get chance to think about exercising nevermind sit down and do them!

hi, my old thread seems to have been revived a month or so down the line!
i just wanted to add an update..I went to a specialist women's physio. Paid to go private and am very glad i did since the GP allegedly referred me to an NHS specialist a month ago and i've STILL not heard anything. The specialist was absolutely brilliant and taught me a new technique with the pelvic floor exercises that seems to be helping. i haven't tried running any distance but certainly I have no leaking if I just run a small way, unlike the situation a month ago when i could not even run two paces without leaking.
Also the prolapse, it turns out may not actually be a uterine prolapse but the vaginal wall "bulging" (sorry if TMI...). i was pretty depressed about that but it does seem to be going away. it's not gone but it's a lot better. It's exactly two months since I gave birth.
by the way I do not believe the stuff some (male) doctors tell you about the damage to your pelvic floor being caused by carrying the child, rather than actually giving birth. My pelvic floor was hunky dory till after labour. it's a c-section for me next time.

Why are all Gynacologists male anyway?
The one I saw said he couldn't see any prolapse! T*sser. What did he think that huge peice of vaginal tissue was hanging down . I will never trust a male Gynacologist. How can they empathise when they haven't got the organ in discussion? Bah! (rant over, sorry)

Oh dear cktwo, it does take time for the pelvic floor muscles to regain their tone, particularly after a long and difficult labour.

Please don't judge all male Gynae/Obs doctors by the one you saw, there are some brilliant and very understanding ones.

Despite all the advances in obstetric/midwifery care over the years, some things cannot change.

A Woman's antomy and the mechanics of childbirth can never change, yes we can tweak things a little, endeavor to make labour shorter, expedite dlivery where necessary, but the fact remains that our bodies are altered by childbearing, to a greater or lesser degree depending on individual circumstances.