After reading many different birth and parenting books she was supposed to, Madeleine Hamilton said.
“I was focused on breastfeeding, how I would cope if my birth plans didn’t go to plan, how I would recover psychologically … that kind of things,”
What goes without getting any attention.
Among most of the woman, many don’t even ask the long-lasting damage her pregnancy and birth could do to her pelvic floor muscles.
She said,
“I was a little bit familiar with urine leakage and things like that … however, prolapse was very far back in my mind as the worst-case scenario.”
Just after 6 weeks after giving birth, she started experiencing some level of pelvic organ prolapse. Just like millions of other women.
She said,
“I was trying to enjoy the luxury of an unpressured bowel movement while my baby and toddler were asleep … and lo and behold, part of my insides appeared on the outside,”.
“I freaked out … moreover, texted my husband while he was at work saying, ‘Help! My vagina is falling out’.”
When she discussed this with other women,
“They’d say, ‘Oh yeah, I had one too’ or ‘I’ve had troubles with incontinence’ and all kinds of things, and I never had any idea,” she said.
“I think we really owe it to women who are considering having children to tell them that these things can happen, but that there are preventative measures and things you can do after birth to help.”
What are the symptoms?
Among the most common symptoms are bowel and bladder incontinence. While symptoms like uncomfortable feelings of fullness or swelling in the vagina, and for some women, sex may become painful.
While pregnancy and vaginal birth are the primary causes of prolapse, heavy lifting, chronic constipation, obesity, and aging can also weaken the pelvic floor.
What do experts say?
According to Women’s Health Queensland: “Simple measures such as losing weight (if overweight), avoiding heavy lifting objects (including children) and treating conditions like chronic coughing and constipation may alleviate some symptoms.”
Some so many women are experiencing the same. Moreover, many feel ashamed of it. What women need to do is not to feel ashamed of this and get better help and support.