Diagnosis
I was diagnosed with a Grade 2 rectocele (bowels protruding into the vaginal canal) after my daughter’s birth in 2019 when I was around 6 weeks postpartum.
I first started noticing symptoms pretty early on in my postpartum recovery, probably as early as 3 week postpartum. I was feeling heaviness, like a tampon was falling out, whenever we would take walks with the family. Especially if I was baby wearing my daughter.
I quickly made an appointment with a pelvic floor PT, and had a few days of crying in the shower. During the Pelvic Floor PT appointment, she reassured me that nothing I did caused my prolapse. She gave me some exercises to do and we scheduled out appointments once a month for the next few months to monitor my progress. I was still early postpartum that things still had time to heal and improve.
Recovery after 1st Pregnancy
My recovery to feeling like myself after Lily was LONG!
To start my recovery initially, I did not rest as much as I should’ve. I was up and moving and shopping around at 2 days postpartum. Going on 10-15min walks within the first week postpartum. This was probably not the best choice I could’ve made.
After starting pelvic floor pt, I still didn’t end up returning to the gym till I was around 3 months postpartum. I was still having symptoms at this point, it was hard to find exercises I could do without having symptoms. It was quite defeating. I couldn’t lift anything heavy, and was only able to do body weight or light weighted movements for a lot of my workouts.
I was slowly able to incorporate weights as my pelvic floor pt progressed, but I was not able to walk long periods or run without having symptoms at 6 months postpartum. I was back to working as a nurse and was not able to go a full 12 hour shift without feeling some symptoms.
At this point my Pelvic Floor PT recommended seeing the Urogynecologist to be fitted for a pessary. A pessary is a medical device that is inserted internally to provide support for the pelvic organs. She recommended to to help me be able to do the exercises and movements I was wanting without symptoms.
My pessary appointment went smoothly and I wore my pessary only when I would workout or work as an RN at the hospital. I was able to get back to gradually lifting and running short periods of time. I was able to make it an entire shift at the hospital without symptoms! Overtime I gradually started using my pessary less and less for workouts and working. I was able to completely stop using my pessary at 12 months postpartum! I was also able to stop pelvic floor pt after 1 year!
2nd Pregnancy
5 months after stopping Pelvic Floor PT, We found out we were pregnant with baby #2! To say i was nervous about being pregnant with prolapse was an understatement. I was TERRIFIED!
You can find all the horror stories online about people’s prolapse worsening during subsequent pregnancies, or people needed c-sections because of how bad their prolapse was during their pregnancy. I was sooo nervous of what to expect with this pregnancy.
I knew I needed to be proactive this time around with my pelvic floor! Since I had such bad SPD with Lily’s pregnancy and I have prolapse I made an appointment with a pelvic floor PT in our area as soon as i could.
I saw a pelvic floor PT during my pregnancy every week until we moved to California. She helped me come up with strategies to avoid SPD and manage my prolapse symptoms. I had little to no prolapse symptoms throughout my pregnancy, and only had SPD pain when we moved cross country to California.
Recovery after 2nd Pregnancy
After my second I was way more deliberate in my recovery. Both in the initial postpartum period and with my pelvic floor PT work.
My initial recovery consisted of laying in bed or on the couch for most of the day with baby, while i had support with my house and daughter from family. After 2 weeks I started moving around more and doing more things around the house. If I needed to getup and move before, I would wear my Baobei Bloomers or Mamastrut external support devices to provider both abdominal and perineal support. My prolapse symptoms were the highest during the first 2 weeks and gradually got better over time. I practiced diaphragmatic breathing and thoracic mobility daily for the first month before introducing other movements.
I got in to see a Pelvic Floor PT around 6/8 weeks postpartum and started incorporating the exercises from her (Monterey Pelvic Health) along with our Postpartum Return to Fitness.
I monitored my pelvic heaviness and other symptoms when doing my workouts. If i had any pressure or pain I would stop and modify it to something else.
After only 3 months in Pelvic Floor Pt, I “graduated” from needing to be see regularly and would only make appointments as needed. I felt SOOO much better this postpartum than last time.
Where I am now!
Right now, as of Sept 15 2022, I am still symptom free!! I am training for a marathon and able to lift weights without symptoms!!
If I do have any “flare ups” of symptoms I will make an appointment with my PT (Monterey Pelvic Health) to ensure everything is okay, or to help make adjustment for my movements.
If you are at the beginning of your prolapse journey know YOU ARE NOT ALONE, and it does get better!