hugely embarrasing post baby pelvic floor problem....

[sannie]

ok so no prizes for guessing this involves leakage at sneezing and much more embarrasingly, intimate moments...(please tell me someone else has experienced this...)

My baby was born 8 weeks ago - a lovely "normal" birth. I gave it my all on the pushing front and not i am suffering the repercussions. TBH I've been a bit half arsed with doing pelvic floor excercises but I obviosely need to start.....

So i just draw up and hold for a few seconds? How many times should i do this and anyone have any timelines of when i can expect things to be normal again???

thanks - really feel down about this and am put off being intimate with hubby again although he was a star about it...

1. draw and release 20 times

2. draw and hold 10 seconds - repeat 10 times

Repeat N.1

3. do the lift - 4 floors working your way towards the back - hold each 2 seconds and release gradually

Repeat N.1

Do the whole sequence 3 times a day and increase repetitions if you have time/inclination.

Do this for the rest of your life.

Do it whenever you remember! As often as you can!

Try to stop yourself from having a fart or a poo. That's the action you need to take, in a nutshell.

Haven't got time to post more, sorry.

I can asure you you're not the only one, but then I was pushing for Scotland with a spinal, episiotemy and forceps, so it was inevitable, I guess. Forced pushing (valsalla) is most likely to cause this kind of 'injury' to your pelvic floor, afaia.

If you ring yourHV she should have a pelvic floor leaflet for you or "look here www.netdoctor.co.uk/womenshealth/sui/pelvicfloor_005167.htm" Can take two or three months before you notice a difference, a good check to see how your doing or how strong your muscles are is - when you have intercourse asking to stop and see if you can grip the shaft of his penis by clamping your muscles of your vagina tight around it.

In fact, you can ask your dh to test the efficency your pelvic floor exercises....did Slim advise three times a day? I'm sure your dh will be delighted to assist.

My dh will be delighted with this advice :-) poor thing has been very starved on this front thanks to preg/bf hormones....

i am sqeezing as we speak!

I had a natural Birth too without forceps etc and at 8 weeks I was still the same but a few weeks of being really good about the exercises made a huge difference. I realised I had to do something when I was walking to the loo one morning, coughed and "gush". I just thought OMG I could have been in Tescos

DD is 17m now and I am fine, not as good as before but better. I still do them when I remember. Threads like this remind me every now and then

BTW - My Sister has had 2 C sections and had the same problems - pushing etc can make it worse but your Pelvic floor is trashed by the Pregnancy as much as anything else.

i too havent been doing my pelvic floors, i had a normal birth...i was pushing for queen and country!! my son was born 5 weeks ago now and recently i have been experiencing a feeling of something dropping out of me (if that makes sense! sorry bit TMI)so thought i could possibly have a mild prolapse, i googled this and it said the pelvic floors are really one of the only things i can do to get this sorted out so have been clenching like mad day and night! my dm kept telling me it is so important to do these but i kept on brushing it off,now i realise how important these are so make sure you do them as often as poss. Still havent had the intimate moment as of yet...am dreading the prospect TBH!

i would recommend this

though i did pay £50, not sure which website

its electronic and lights up bars telling you how well you are doing

I was compelled to do them properly a couple of weeks after birth when I bent down to get DD out of moses basket, did an entire wee on the floor (luckily laminate) and didn't even feel a thing! fortunately wasn't anywhere close to being 'intimate' at that stage or I might have been put off for ever!

In terms of how quickly they can work, really quickly. After that shock I was probably doing 1000 a day (not as structured as slim's programme) and within a week I had noticed a real difference and could easily stop the flow completely whereas after birth I couldn't even slow it down. I also bought some kind of device off the internet but never used it much.

bracingair love the name of that one - surely it should be preceded with 'I pee'.

I haven't been doing my excercises either, MW says I will ruin my sex life if I don't do them. She also says that, since this is my third, I will have saggy boobs and a terrible flabby tummy - so I guess sex life is going to suffer regardless