Post partum incontinence

[nellyellz]

Hi, sorry for a TMI post but I’m 6 days post partum and looking for reassurance on incontinence. I’m not having accidents getting to the toilet but when I start I can’t stop the flow. I never had this with my first and I’m trying to do kegle exercises but I can’t even feel the muscles to squeeze! Is this normal and am I expecting too much just a week in?

The morning after I got home with my second i got up and literally wet myself right next to my bed, couldn’t stop it - I was mortified and really upset. I hadn’t had any stitches but DD was delivered with a ventouse.

My midwife said to keep doing my exercises and make sure I fully emptied my bladder every hour but to try train myself to leave it longer between wees as it can become a psychological thing of “I need to pee” when u don’t. So I started at 20 mins and built it up. I was really strict about doing my exercises 3 times a day.

By the time DD was 1 month old I was confident I could leave the house for an hour and also stop mid pee if I wanted. I think my midwife said to give it 12 weeks and if no improvement go to doctors.

I know it’s not exactly what you asked but DD is almost 4 now and apart from the fact I pee slightly more frequently I would say I have pretty much the same control I did pre pregnancy.

Do you know if u will have a 6 week check with the doctor? If u do mention it if there has been no improvement.

Yeah I will have a six week check at the GP. That’s good to know. The thing that’s worrying me is that I’m trying to stop
Mid pee but can’t even feel those muscles at the moment. They were strong before but when I try to stop peeing mid flow I can’t even fee anything tensing down there. Was it the same for you?

Yes for the first two weeks I definitely could have felt anything flexing but just kept practicing and it did come back

Sorry should have been “couldn’t have felt”

Thank you! That has made me feel so much better, I’ll stop panicking :)

I had problems with it basically free flowing out of me with no way of stopping. It was partly due to issues around the birth. It did go back to kind of normal eventually. I don't have the strongest pelvic floor but I haven't made an effort to keep it in good shape.

Yeah I had this and even when my baby was up to 10 months old I would still often let wee out by accident whilst exercising x

How long did it take to get back to normal?? 😫

Day to day quite quick but exercising, like running long distances, it was quite a long time, I found that when my body got tired wee would slip out then almost like those muscles were tired too. But day to day it stoped quite quickly really but just keep doing your exercises down there xx

Did it seem like you couldn’t feel those muscles at first though? I’m trying to exercise them but I can’t feel them like I used to. Sorry if that makes no sense

Oh yeah sorry I had this too like i was trying to squeeze and couldn't really feel it, I can't remember how long it felt like that for me but it did get better, the muscles will be damaged at the end of the day, but they'll recover xx

I'm 2 weeks post partum and having issues controlling bladder and bowel. I'm doing my exercises but again can't really feel what I'm doing so who knows if I'm doing them correct at the moment. Really hoping I see a improvement soon. Any tips in the meantime greatly received

I couldn't feel anything for about 4 weeks and couldn't stop midflow. My health visitor said that it is completely normal as the nerves are often damaged during birth (rotational forceps delivery). She advised to continue with pelvic floor exercises and i will gradually start to feel those muscles again as the nerves repair with time.
I am now 16 weeks post partum and can feel the muscles working. I cannot completely stop midflow but i can feel an improvement from nothing.
I hope this improves for you too.
I also wish I had known the importance of regular (3 x daily) pelvic floor exercises during pregnancy, rather than just doing them as and when.