By Kimberly Johnson
You’re feeling heaviness, sagginess or even a bulge in your pelvic floor. Or maybe you even feel like your organs might just fall down to the ground.
The first thing to do is get an evaluation. Actually, before you do that. Stay calm. Don’t panic. It is normal to feel alarmed and disoriented. This is a giant bummer, but you will get through it. Your organs are not going to actually fall out and there is help. You will be able to get your organs back up where they belong! This is also nothing to be ashamed about. Be easy with yourself. As women, we often push ourselves as far as we can go. Respect the slowness of new motherhood, even if you have other children, and be willing to let things slide – so your organs won’t!
Ask your doctor or midwife to check internally to see how your organs are positioned.
If that evaluation feels off, get a second opinion (you can call a midwife even if you did not birth with one, to get an evaluation). If a doctor tells you there is nothing wrong, but you feel there is, you need a second opinion. If a doctor says you have a prolapse, and to wait a year to see if it gets better, find another doctor. Prolapse rarely gets better on its own (unlike diastasis which can improve on its own within the first 3 months after giving birth)
Ask for a recommendation for a pelvic floor physical therapist.
If that physical therapist does not do hands-on, hands-in (internal vaginal or anal work), then request it. Many Sexological Bodyworkers are also trained to work with prolapse.
If your birth story is a difficult one, seek trauma counseling through a somatic modality like Somatic Experiencing or Birth Story medicine with Pam England. Birth trauma can affect the muscle tone and responsiveness of your pelvic floor.
Order the Janet Hulme Roll for Control home kit for pelvic core rehab exercises. Commit to 15 minutes a day of these, until you feel deep core strength return.
Get in the habit of doing 5 minutes of pelvic floor strengthening and some suctioning exercises so that you train your pelvic organs to stay lifted.
If you want my help, schedule a phone consult or a postpartum recovery session.
Although it feels like a royal pain to have to go through all this, after you have just been pregnant for 9 months and then birthed a baby, you will see results if you stick to it. This attention to our pelvis is something that actually should be a part of women’s health. So instead of seeing it as a sentence, view it is an opportunity to have optimal pelvic and sexual health. You will actually be ahead of the game, because as we age as women, we all need to strengthen our core and tone our pelvic organs!
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