Post partum prolapse - reassurance please

[bubble55]

I’m 3 weeks pp and last week (2 weeks pp) suddenly noticed I felt very different down below, like I had a tampon falling out. I had a look yesterday and have a very visible fleshy bulge coming from my vagina. I can feel it all the time. I checked again this morning and it was much smaller, assuming because I’ve been laid down in bed overnight but as the days gone on it’s got bigger again.

has anyone else had this - I’m assuming it’s a prolapse. I have spent the past 24hrs googling and pretty much crying the Whole time. I feel absolutely disgusting. I’m only in my early 30s. I don’t want my OH anywhere near me and I’ve got a 3 year old who I feel I can’t play with properly.

I’ve downloaded nhs squeezy app and going to contact GP tomorrow but does anyone have any positive stories? Thank you.

Hello, yes I have a positive story- I will be brief as writing this at bedtime so I easily get distracted. I had a minor prolapse with my first that came a few weeks post partum. I had it checked at my six week check and it was gone within weeks after that.

With my second it was much worse- appeared two days pp and was quite the bulge. I was terrified. Largely gone by 12 weeks. It returns ever so slightly if I have a long day on my feet, but other than that fine. I was referred to a physiotherapist by my midwife which was reassuring but actually all she really did was to remind me to do my exercises. If it hadn't gone away then there are surgical options too.

Feel free to ask any questions you want

My babies were on the large size and second birth very very quick which can cause them to be more likely- the physio had no concerns about my pelvic floor strength

I had mild prolapse after first child, I did womens physio and I’m back to normal now. I panicked like you and felt horrendous. People told me the more you fret about it the more you notice it. Just try to relax and remember your body is still recovering. Also I was told if you’re breastfeeding the hormones will make the symptoms feel more apparent. It was true, once I stopped breastfeeding I felt a big difference too.
For me the major improvement just came with time.

@LeftTheWashingOut thank you that is reassuring. My first baby was tiny and I had an epiostomy and was fine but second was huge, natural birth though, and I’m only small myself. I have become obsessive on Google all day and winding myself up.

did you just do pelvic floor exercises? I really hope mine has gone as quick as yours did.

@Happyowl89 Thank you - everything I’ve read online is really worrying and talk of surgery. Our family isn’t complete yet and I’ve panicked about how I can give birth again after this. How long did yours take to recover? I am breastfeeding, something I was unable to do with my first, and wanted to carry on but this is now making me want to give up.

Don’t let it stop you breastfeeding if you want to continue. For me, it actually made me want to carry on because it was like a little bit of hope I could hold out for that once I stop breastfeeding I’ll have fewer or no symptoms - does that make sense?

I don’t want to upset you and of course everyone is different but I’d say probably by 6 months postpartum I felt so much better and then by a year pp I’d forgotten about it and couldn’t feel it anymore, just the odd occasion when I’d done too much lifting or a long run.

For my second child born 9 months ago I had an elective CS because I didn’t want the symptoms to come back or to make anything worse and it 100% worked for me, I had no symptoms at all after giving birth. The info online contradicts this and says electives don’t make a difference, it’s pregnancy etc that contributes to a prolapse more but I don’t agree with this at all and how I felt after having my second son via elective CS validated that for me. I had forceps with my first child which I think was a huge factor in me development prolapse symptoms.

I did my pelvic floor exercises, but not as much as I should have done tbh. I also EBF my five month old so don't feel like you need to give up for it to go back to normal- it might just take longer than it might have done otherwise. I think it's to do with hormones