Wetting myself after birth

[Kellym25]

I'm really nervous about writing this but I'm so worried, scared and having anxiety attacks about it that I'm hoping someone has had the same and can help.

I had a forceps delivery a week ago today and I lost a hell of a lot of blood due to tearing. Ended up being stitched up for nearly 3 hours and all sorts being put inside me to stem the bleeding and metal thing to hold me open so the surgeon could stitch me up. I had cathater in that was taken out the next day and I passed the required amount of urine to not have it back in.

I didn't really feel like I needed a wee the night it is as taken out but felt like I might need a wee and when I stood up, all the wee just came out. Been home four days now and yesterday I needed a wee but not desperate and went in the kitchen then I started to wee a little but couldn't stop it. Then today I was changing the baby and my other half made me laugh and next thing I know I was weeing. I didn't even feel like I needed a wee yet it wasn't a little trickle, it was a whole massive wee, all in my pants (had a maternity towel in) and my knickers and trousers were soaking wet.

Has anyone else had this after a difficult birth? They've told me to do y pelvic floor exercises which is fine but I can't feel anything down there when I'm trying to do them. I still keep trying but as there's no feeling, not sure if it's doing anything.

I'm scared it permanently damaged and I will always wet myself. Makes me not want to leave the house now incase I wet myself again.

No I'd want that looked at OP. There's a chance the forceps have damaged something or they've missed a bit while stitching you up. Keep doing the pelvic floors anyway but make an appointment for a check up.

Tena pants you wear like knickers will help make you feel more secure about accidents but please get that looked at and don't be fobbed off. It could just be properly bruised but get it checked anyway.

Did they give you a number to refer to women's health physio? If not speak to your midwife/district nurse when they visit to check on you/baby.

You need to speak to physio. They will help you.

Even although you can't feel your pelvic floor if you aren't too sore then keep trying to send the signals to the pelvic floor as this will help.

It won't be forever but it sounds pretty crap just now.

I can't give you medical advice, but do want to tell you that this is what happened to my mother. She dealt with the problem for her entire life because no one took it seriously.

She hardly ever went on shopping trips in case there wasn't a toilet available. She worried constantly about accidents.

Please do not ever give up on asking for help. You may need to be aggressive and you should be. Sadly, you may be ignored if you're not because the NHS is so overwhelmed. You deserve help.

Phone your gp and ask for post natal physio referral.

It does sound like somethings been missed when they stitched you op.

I worded that wrong, don't ask them, tell them you want a referral to post natal physio.

I was wetting myself after the pretty easy birth of my daughter! I did my pelvic floors religiously until I stopped. Even if you can’t feel anything just give it a go. As suggested already, a referral to physio may help as I needed to see physio in the year or two after due to an overactive bladder. They’re pretty good at checking and helping with this sort of thing. Try not to be too worried as you’re only a week post birth and still healing so you need time as well to feel better. Be gentle with yourself.

I had a 4th degree tear after a forceps delivery and just wanted to say that it did take a while for me to get any sensation when I was doing the pelvic floor exercises. The midwives told me this was normal and just to keep doing them and as time went on I got more and more sensation.

Thankfully I didn't have any incontinence but I was referred to the women's health physio and would highly recommend you push for a referral as they were very helpful for me (and ultimately identified an issue that required further surgery in my case)

My sister had the thing where she stood up after the birth and out it all came. I had the thing where I went to do the washing up and turning the tap on set me off!! We both did exercises and it's fine now (but it will never be as good as pre-birth - two sneezes and I have to cross my legs after the first one!).

Tell your midwife/health visitor though, to make sure you get help.

Hi OP, with my first DD, i had a urethral tear and a very similar experience with huge amounts of wee coming out in the first 10days after birth that i just couldn't stop (twice before i was even discharged from the postnatal ward). I was referred to a womens health physio - she checked there was nothing "major" going on, that i was doing my pelvic floors properly via an internal exam, and gave me some gentle exercises for after my six week check. I stuck to the programme and pretty much had a full recovery. So i agree with pp, do push for a physio referral as it can really help.

Same with my mil. She was very embarrassed and never pushed for help and it affected her mental health for years .

Hi honey,
please don’t panic but absolutely get yourself referred to a pelvic health physio (I am one myself)
its unfortunately quite common for you to lose sensation in your bladder after delivery especially with having a catheter - it can become a little confused!
secondly with having a difficult delivery your pelvic floor has had a significant amount of impact and needs a little time to recover to support you. Pelvic floor exercises are a must keep on trying until you can see a physio who can assess you.
p.s it will definitely improve its very early days!!
xx

I pushed my mother to get help and she did ask at different times, but just didn't get help. It really makes me angry to think of how limited her life was because of it.

She died of cancer last year and her GP told me (when I called to find out why it wasn't detected until it had spread all over her body; she died just two weeks after it was diagnosed) that she had poor health and it was hard to tell. Well, she had poor health because every healthcare professional she interacted with wrote her off and thought it was normal for a woman who had had children to be suffering.

I urge everyone to get comfortable with kicking up a fuss. It could be fatal not to.

Oh you poor thing. I had this after a catheter and big bleed - I got out of bed, wet myself and cried. Download the squeezy app to help with pelvic floor exercises, and speak to a women's physio. It took me about six months to be fully continent again. I've just had a second baby and no issues.

You need to get checked out.
However, is there any chance you are constipated? I was after my first and ended up wetting myself due to bowel pressure. No urge to P, just gush.

Hello OP. I'm sorry to hear that. I had pretty much the exact same experience as you 6 months ago after I had my first baby. I completely understand the embarrassment. I sat and cried and was scared I couldn't go outside anymore or I'd smell of pee.

I had forceps delivery with episiotomy and a tear. When I went to the loo in the hospital it all came gushing out before I took my knickers off and then it happened a few times after that.I wet myself like you described about 5 times in the first two weeks of having a baby. Since then it's improved following medical advice. Right now I leak small amounts of pee (I haven't stopped wearing liners daily since having my baby) and I can't tell I leak ie. I haven't regained my pelvic floor strength.

I'll tell you all the medical advice I was given and the different tests. (But also do go to your midwife or health visitor and they can get you referred to pelvic floor specialist.)

I was told that it is NOT stress incontinence ie. When a little pee comes out when you cough/sneeze. It's to do with having a weakened pelvic floor following birth and pregnancy. And I was also told that my bladder needed to re-learn when it was full etc and send the right signals to my brain.

The gynaecologist at the maternity ward did a scan of my bladder and said my bladder was emptying fine and so ruled out damage to my bladder and concluded it was a weak pelvic floor.

I was told to go to the loo every three hours whether I had a sensation of peeing or not. I did the exercises on the NHS squeezy app but it was too intense for me and made my pelvic floor ache.

Fast forward 6 months, I have been doing very gentle pelvic floor exercises. I have been told not to lift anything too heavy, no jumping or any exercises that mean both feet will be off the ground, nothing high impact (eg. Running). Please feel free to message me directly and I can run you through all my exercises.

i also did something called a mummy MOT privately and they do very good physio.

I was also told worrying about it can make it worse so it's a bit of a vicious circle but have faith it can be improved. You've only just given birth and your body is adjusting to lots of changes. See your midwife and get referred and over time it will get better.

my advice is keep trying pelvic floor...it can take weeks or months to get feeling back. wear discreet always pads and go to loo as often as you can. i was exactly same after having my 3rd. soon got back to normal

If you're still under midwifery, ask for a referral to your local Perinatal Pelvic Health Service. If discharged from midwifery, make a GP appointment and ask them instead.

There is treatment out there and I can pretty much guarantee things will improve with time and treatment.

It's really early days. I didn't suffer this badly, but one thing that did resonate with me was in the early weeks with DC2, I didn't really get the sensation to pee. I was drinking plenty and I would just notice, oh, I haven't been to the toilet in many many hours! I'd go to the loo, release and a huuuuuge wee would come out. I had a ventouse delivery with episiotomy (my second such birth) so clearly there was some damage there. I would go to the toilet every 3 hrs or so to make sure I was emptying fine and gradually the sensation started to come back and was back to normal by the time I had my 6 week check with my GP.

Thank you all so much for your answers. It's made me feel a bit better that others have had similar experiences.

I was referred to the pelvic health physio while still in hospital. They called me the day after I came out of hospital (Thursday) and went through pelvic floor exercises and sent me an email. They said they'll call again in 6 weeks and if I cough and wee comes out then it's not "fixed"

They asked if I knew how to do pelvic floor exercises and I said yes as I was doing them pre birth and had no issues. I will keep doing them (even though I have no idea if I am actually doing them due to no feeling down there) and hope that it improves.

I'm not wanting to go out the house now (not that I was anyway, still sore, very aniemic due to blood loss and mental health is really not great at the moment) with fear of wetting myself. I'm still bleeding so have the delightful maternity pads in which thankfully soaked up a lot of the wee this afternoon but I wouldn't want to risks being out and it happened.

Check out Karen Ellis Posnatal exercise on Facebook, she has loads of free content about her dry knickers campaign and specialises in postnatal recovery.

Bless you. but be reassured this is super common. It's very very early days it will get better. Get yourself to an in person pelvic floor physio appointment. I thought I was doing pelvic floor exercises properly, I wasn't. Improved technique can make a world of difference.