Devastated Ladygarden: am concerned after checking out my bits for the first time since birth of dc2

[NoShitIveNameChanged]

have booked an appt with my doc to ask for a referral to a gynae

have been prone to thrush since dc2 born a few months ago. was applying cream yesterday and was concerned about the feel of everything just inside the vagina

decided to investigate with a mirror - first time i've looked since dc2 born. it's bad, really bad. bits all over the shop. i knew they'd made a bit of a hash of the stitching (clear memory of two midwives hunched over me discussing e.g. "shouldn't that bit (points) go there (points)")

the bouts of thrush have all occurred after sex. i never (well, rarely) had thrush before dc2's birth. am not sure that's what it is now, tbh. bits sore and inflamed, so have been treating it as thrush. but maybe it's due to roadkill status of vag???

what do you think? normal to have messed up bits? am i being melodramatic seeing a doc about it?

I remember mine looked like the inside of a steak and kidney pie for a while.

I now sport a designer vagina.

Like MP I didn't even ask. My doc referred me after examining me at a routine post birth check about six months after my fourth baby, a ten pounder, came down and out OP.

When I went for my smear 6 months after giving birth to dd I said to the nurse that it felt a bit tatty down there. She took one look and said "Oooh, you're not wrong!" .

On the upside, having ds doesn't seem to have made it any worse!!!

LOL at stripey

NoShit: I was when I read this bit of your OP:

'(clear memory of two midwives hunched over me discussing e.g. "shouldn't that bit (points) go there (points)")'

...as that's EXACTLY what happened to me (right down to two midwives), except in my case the lidocaine hadn't taken and I was in excruciating pain, so when Midwife #1 said gaily 'I'm trying to make this bit go over there but it doesn't seem to want to go!' I started HOWLING and demanded that she stop.

She looked a bit shamefaced and called in the registrar, who dosed me up to the eyeballs with lidocaine, unpicked everything the midwife had done and started over again.

Anyway.... I've never looked. Far too scared.

When they were doing my stitches (community midwife, post all night homebirth) there was a fair old bit of poking and huffing, and her hands were shaking. It did not exactly inspire confidence.

She wanted to put some kind of post-birth tampon made of rolled up gauze up there and I cried and said "Noooooo".

The headtorch incident is not one I ever wish to repeat. Once is enough.

My community mw said I ought to have a look after delivering ds1: Bloody hell! I could have lived with not knowing it looked like the Mount Blanc Tunnel!!

The mw who "stitched" me up the first time & took an hour did such a crap job it didn't hold and I tore further, ouch!

You may well need a tidy-up; get gp to refer you to gynae and women's health as I'm not totally convinced they know what they are looking at down there.

Strangely, I found female gp at the 6 wk check unsympathetic, "What do you expect when you've had a baby?", whilst my own male gp (who secretly I think is a bit squeamish!) referred me immediately.

i didn't tear or have an episiotomy with either of mine, but it's most definitely quite different down there, particularly after the second birth, dh refers to it as a badly packed kebab

ok, i have an appt with my gp tomorrow

am trying to think how to word my intro

gp: what can i do for you today?
noshit: you can have a gander at my scruffy vag

Hmm, interesting thread. I gave birth 14months ago and have had sticky out bit of my fanjo ever since. It is near to where I had stitches (perenium) but is actually like a lump of flesh inside my fanjo sticking out. Dosn't cause pain but looks SO awful.

What does reconstructive surgery consist of? Should I wait until I have birthed all of my DCs before approaching the GP?? Would it undo any reconstructuve surgery?

It does sound like it could be a prolapse, hope everything is ok.

SF, I had my surgery about 5 months after having ds1 and went on to have dd the following year. It was just day surgery at the hospital where the consultant tidied up the small prolapse and checked everything out whilst she was down there!

ok, well i have an appt with a gynae next week

referred for "skin tags" but she said she didn't really know what to call them - lots of bits of tissue that shouldn't really be there

ok wish me luck - i have a consultant appt tonight

i shall update tomorrow to let you know whether my scruffy vag is scruffy enough to merit surgery or just a plain old-fashioned scruffy vag