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How long after Giving birth would you wait for prolapse surgery?

Posted , 9 users are following.

helen43286
helen43286

I recently had a pretty traumatic birth experience (wish I lived in the UK for women's birth rights - Australia is not kind to women when it comes to informed consent). I now have stage 3 bladder, bowel and uterus prolapse. I find out next week if the muscles have been torn from the bone and I'm praying it hasn't. I'm extremely self conscious and that's partly why I had elected not to try VBAC and have a C-Section but they made me have a VBAC after a spinal tap (I was on the operating table for my C-Section) and forceps (without consent) have done some pretty good damage. I was wondering if anyone had surgery repairs done quickly after the initial damage or if I should spend time in PT before getting it done. I know I want surgery as I honestly won't cope emotionally with this but don't want to rush it if it reduces the chances of it being successful. 

0 likes, 26 replies

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  • lynn03436
    lynn03436 helen43286

    Posted

    If this is your first child i would wait cause if you want more children and they do this again having to do the surgery over and over ant good it's better to do it once and let it hesl very well im sorry that you went through thst so after child birth that is a lot to go through they shouldn't have done that to you hope all goes well best of luck

    • helen43286
      helen43286 lynn03436

      Posted

      Hi Lynn,

      No more babies for me, they were supposed to tie my tubes during my c-section.  I get a scan next week to see if they have torn the muscle from the bone. I'm shattered. The hospital has opened an investigation into what happened but no love for Mothers in Australia. 

  • Kym04
    Kym04 helen43286

    Posted

    Hi Helen

    My only experience is a long time ago I'm talking 25 years. I had a large baby 4.3kgs assisted delivery with forceps. Was pretty messed up and had a anterior and posterior vaginal repair when he was 3 months old. After that I had a twin pregnancy delivered by cesarean then a vag hysterectomy. I've just had my second anterior posterior repair about 7 weeks ago. My specialist told me nowadays they would've advised a pessary if I was having more children as the weight of the second pregnancy undermined my first repair. Wait until u have healed and then get some advice. Good luck. Child birth is definitely barbaric!

    • helen43286
      helen43286 Kym04

      Posted

      Thanks Kym, 

      Do you mind if I ask how long it was between your repair surgeries? 

      Helen 

    • Kym04
      Kym04 helen43286

      Posted

      Helen

      I've recovered quite well but I've been left with a leaky bladder that I didn't have before the surgery. I'm seeing a physio and I'm working on my super weak pelvic floor muscles. Hopefully that improves things.

    • helen43286
      helen43286 Kym04

      Posted

      I truely hope things get better for you. Thank you so much for giving me some insight on this topic.
    • Kym04
      Kym04 helen43286

      Posted

      Your welcome Helen. I feel very misinformed. My physio says if I'd had a 4.3kg baby today I'd be referred 2 a pelvic floor physio immediately. No one ever in the last 26 years mentioned one word about pelvic floor health or exercises or that I'd ever re-prolapse with a subsequent pregnancy or hysterectomy. In some ways I feel a bit stupid for not knowing but I thought once it was fixed that was it! Hope everything goes well for u wotever u decide 😊

    • helen43286
      helen43286 Kym04

      Posted

      Don't feel silly. I didn't even know what a prolapse was. I've always done my pelvic floors because I was told if you don't want to wee yourself when your older you need to do them. I didn't even know Pelvic Floor Therapists existed. I feel that's apart of the problem, we are made to be reactive in treatment when things go wrong instead of being well informed of proactive preventive lifestyle prior any injuries. My doctors certainly didn't inform me of any possible pelvic floor injuries from forceps, they are actively telling woman in labour that they are safe.   

  • vicky35395
    vicky35395 helen43286

    Posted

    Hi x sorry you are having a rubbish time 🙁 I had my third child in September 2016 and have had the surgery done 12 weeks ago after waiting to go to the consultant as just things would go back to normal.  So around 18 months is the time I have had the surgery done after giving birth. My consultant told me that the damage was caused when I had a forceps delivery with my first child when I was 21! My second must have done more damage and then with this one it must have just tipped my muscles to breaking point and everything came down ! X I’m glad I have had the surgery done x 

    I went to the Drs in the first instance around a year after third child and they gave me pelvic floor exercises to do for a couple of months. I then had an ectopic pregnancy so that all got out on hold but when it was sorted I went back and saw the consultant and she just took one look and booked me in for anterior and posterior prolapse repair. 

    I think if the muscles are damaged then only surgery can put it right. It was a hard recovery and very miserable for 10 weeks but I’m now back at work after 3 months and feel better. I always do my pelvic floor exercises and they are pleased with the healing even though I have stitches still in so they’ve have prescribed Hormone replacement pessaries to aid in that .

    It is hard with a toddler but just make sure you have plenty of help with little one of you have the operation. X

    Hope you get sorted soon ??

    • helen43286
      helen43286 vicky35395

      Posted

      Thanks Vicky,

      Is it hard with an 18month old?  I'm worried I'm not being my normal mum self at the moment (I have 3 boys, 12, 5 and my newbie), we always have things happening with soccer, forty, swimming and all the normal things boys do hahaha this has kinda taken over my entire thought process and I just want it gone. 

      Did you do pelvic floor straight away after surgery? 

      Sounds like you have been through a lot. 

    • vicky35395
      vicky35395 helen43286

      Posted

      Hi x yes it was hard as no lifting , I found it hard being so restricted with not being able to do anything ! I luckily had my mum and mum in law to have Mia for me while hubby was at work. I also found it hard to let everyone do everything as well. In the end I had a few tellings of from mum and the older kids who just kept saying mum you need to not do anything so had lots of help.

      I felt better at 10 weeks , this is when I felt less swollen and more my normal self. I started walking to get my strength back up. 

      I think I started my pelvic floor exercises around the second week and when I went for my check up they said they were very strong 😃

      This operation was worth it but I couldn’t of had it done if I had no one to help me with Mia. The worst was that I seemed to spend less time with her than when I was at work as I couldn’t even lift her out of her cot or anything. I just had to think I would never get to sit around and do nothing like this ever again (hopefully). ??

  • phyl_40063
    phyl_40063 helen43286

    Posted

    Hi Helen,

           I noticed after my 6th child (I was 43years old) that I had a prolapse looked like a tumor hanging down parting my outer vagina lips , didn't know till I went to GP that it was my inner walls. 

                She referred me straight to physiotherapist who specialised in post natal pelvic floor, they hooked me up to machine and inserted a gadget that measured the strength of your muscles by monitoring your pelvic floor exersises, I had a couple of visits and with regular exercise of pelvic floor It became stronger and the sagging walls pulled up. 

             I returned to work, I was on my feet all day in Dry cleaners , it didn't really bother me unless I was covering holidays and in work everyday on long days or when I was on my period it seemed to sag more.

                      I had went back to university part time to finish an honours degree and also updated my bookkeeping skills (done computerised sage) . Kept applying for office work advice I had done clerical/admin when I left school before getting married and having family, but so difficult to get back in. 

                      So anyway didn't become a big problem until in 2012, that was 9 years later, when not realising how serious pelvic floor weakness is, I had been going to the gym, skipping, trampolining and had changed jobs switching to extremely high impact work clearing tables without a trolley all while menopause had started.

           No one advised me to avoid any of these things due to weak pelvic floor, I had no idea even when I presented 9 years earlier I was not advised on what to avoid to protect from further problems. Didn't understand the seriousness of this condition until it all finally collapsed. They finally offers me a pessary (ring) to hold things up, they didn't realise his extensive the prolapse was and the ring just kept falling out and by that time I could hardly walk without being in terrible pain. 

                      So anyway depending on extent of prolapse it can be pulled back up with exercise but will always be weak and should be advise for to be very careful from that point onwards, wish I had been better advised when earlier signs of prolapse presented .

                            X

    • helen43286
      helen43286 phyl_40063

      Posted

      Thank You for Sharing.

      I'm really struggling with all of this, I was just supposed to have my C-Section and then hang out with my baby and now I am a mess. 

      I see a PT on Monday and I know I am going to freak out. I'm all for surgery to fix it, I have family who can help out at home, I'm more worried about the day to day running of my business, small business doesn't have lots of staff to cover a long time off work, but need to wait and see if my muscles have come away from the bone, there's such a high reoccurrence rate if it has. I have read lots on the pressy thing to help hold things up, not sure how I will go with that, I'm the person who doesn't even wear tampons ha. 

    • phyl_40063
      phyl_40063 helen43286

      Posted

      My sister is in late 60's and does a lot of walking and looking after young grandchildren, she has had prolapse issues and they fitted a ring which has worked great for her, it stays in for 6 months and then they change it. 

                        She has stopped lifting grandchildren, and not doing the really long walks, and doing PF exercises so pessary seems to work for those who maybe only have mild prolapsed.

      X

    • Kym04
      Kym04 phyl_40063

      Posted

      Why has she stopped her long walks? My physio said walking was good for pelvic floor.
    • phyl_40063
      phyl_40063 Kym04

      Posted

      Hi 

           Not stopped walking just not doing the 10 mile hikes. 

                    I have always walked including hill walking and always regularly went swimming yet still prolapsed. So don't see how that actually prevents further damage when it didn't prevent it in first place. 

           But think once weakness is there you are restricted to not overdoing things, you have to judge what your own body can cope with.

                X

                

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