After the birth of my first son, Leon, I was diagnosed with a grade 2 bladder prolapse. After 15 months of dedication to the physical and mental work necessary to heal, my OBGYN confirmed that my prolapse was reversed from a grade 2 to a grade 1, and even better news, I was symptom free!
To learn more about my diagnosis, symptoms, and causes of my prolapse, read here, or listen to Episode 13 of the podcast I co-host, The Boob Broads (available on all podcast platforms). This blog post is also available in podcast format in Episode 28 of The Boob Broads as well.
If you are new to the word “prolapse,” its grades, and symptoms, here is how I understand it. Prolapse means that an organ’s position in your body is lower than it should be. A bladder prolapse means that the bladder is pressing down into your vagina. There are 3 grades of prolapse: 1 means that the bladder is slightly pressing into the vagina, 2 means that it is moderately pressing into the vagina and grade 3 means that it is actually bulging out of the vagina. Many women can have a grade 1 prolapse and be totally symptom free. Symptoms of any prolapse can include leaking urine, discomfort/pain from the bladder pressing into the vagina, pain with sex, unable to use a tampon, etc.
SEEK THE HELP OF A PELVIC FLOOR PHYSICAL THERAPIST
My pelvic floor physical therapist, Kelly and I on my graduation day!
The latest research says that pelvic floor physical therapy WORKS! For some cases, it is more effective than surgery! I am walking proof! I am lucky to have an OBGYN, who after diagnosing my grade 2 prolapse, wrote me a script for pelvic floor physical therapy and was very confident that I would be successful. I have had friends who have not been so lucky and their OBs pretty much said, “You have deal with the symptoms until you are done having babies and then we will do surgery.” Please, please, don’t believe them. You don’t have to deal with the discomfort, pain with sex, or peeing your pants for your entire child bearing years. You deserve to feel good EVERYDAY. If you don’t like your OBs answer to your problems, go find another one!
LENGTHEN BEFORE WE STRENGTHEN
Many women assume that pelvic floor physical therapy is just a bunch of Kegels, but that is a very small piece to pelvic floor health. Majority of the time, when a women is experiencing issues with her pelvic floor it is because the muscles are too tight, just like how you can have tight hamstrings. This was definitely my case.
Think of your muscles like a rubber band. If you wanted to shoot a rubber band across the room, you would stretch it, right? A rubber band that isn't stretched doesn't move or "contract," but a stretched rubber band provides a powerful movement or "contraction" and can shoot across the room. In order for us to perform an effective Kegel, the muscles need to be relaxed, or lengthened, just like a stretched rubber band.
Once you can fully lengthen the pelvic floor muscles, then you can focus on strengthening the area, which can include doing Kegels, although there are lots of other exercises that can help too!
A physical therapist will determine exactly what exercises you need to do to find that perfect balance of length and strength, not only in your pelvic floor, but in your entire body. Everything in your body is connected and, for example, an imbalance in your upper body could negatively impact your pelvic floor. Therefore, this post will not break down all the exercises that I do, because they are unique to my body and your body may need something much different in order to heal your prolapse.
HEALING TAKES EFFORT AND PATIENCE
Like I said, I am walking proof that physical therapy works, but you have to dedicate yourself to the exercises and follow your PT’s guidance. I don’t believe in quick fixes for long lasting results, and neither does your body. It takes time. It takes patience. It took me 15 months to be exact:
For the first 2 months, I attended physical therapy 2x a week and did DAILY exercises that my PT assigned to me.
When I graduated PT, my therapist wrote up exercises to do 2x a week, every week. So for the following 8 months, I did my PT exercises (40 minutes) at home 2x a week. In addition, during my daily meditation practice, I would consciously make sure my pelvic floor muscles were relaxed and lengthened with my deep breathing.
After 8 months of doing exercises 2x a week, I was able to drop down to doing my exercises 1x per week and to this day, I STILL DO MY EXERCISES ONCE A WEEK! Why? Your pelvic floor muscles are just like any other muscles in your body, if you don’t purposely relax and challenge them every week, you will loose your strength and flexibility and go right back to where you started.
I took this selfie after completing my first high impact Tabata workout symptom free!
WHEN I WAS READY TO GO BACK TO HIGH IMPACT WORKOUTS
It took about six months to be able to perform high impact aerobics without any pelvic pressure or urine leakage. At this time, I went back to my role as a high intensity aerobic instructor. Prior to having my son, I taught 5 high intensity classes per week. My therapist suggested at sticking to only 2 high intensity workouts per week and being sure to space them apart, which I am currently doing and it works well with my body.
MAKING TIME FOR YOURSELF
It is SO EASY to put yourself last on the priority list, especially when you are a mom to infants/toddlers who need constant attention, but friends, I am here to say that YOU ARE WORTH IT. Excuses are easy and can run your life, but if you want to get back to a place where you feel confident, strong, and sexy, you have to make time for yourself.
Because teaching high impact aerobics is intertwined into my purpose and calling in life, I think it was easier for me to make it a priority, but regardless, it still meant that as soon as my son went down for a nap or my husband came home, etc., I said “no” to doing the dishes, I said “no” to laundry, I said “no” to social media, and I went right into my exercises so I could check them off my list. I made sure it got taken care of FIRST THING.
After I graduated therapy and had exercises to do 2x per week, at the beginning of each week, I scheduled exactly when and where I was going to get my workouts in, which was typically during Leon’s nap on Tuesdays and Thursdays. If Leon didn’t nap that day, sometimes I could do the exercises while we were playing (Momma, it is OK to let your kid have some screen time so you can take care of yourself!). Otherwise, as soon as my husband came home, I would take care of them. You will have to be flexible and sometimes creative. Most importantly, you will have to say “no” to other activities.
THE PATH TO HEALING ISN’T LINEAR
In my “Healing Takes Effort and Patience” timeline, you can see that at 8 months, I dropped down to doing exercises 1x per week. This was because I started to have symptoms again. I started to feel my bladder pressing into my vagina and started leaking urine. I emailed my physical therapist heart broken. I was so frustrated because here I am following my program like a perfect, A+ student and my body was starting to feel broken. After talking it over with my PT, we decided that my muscles were getting too tight again. I was overdoing the strengthening and not relaxing/lengthening enough. She suggested I go down to doing my exercises 1x per week and add more of the relaxation/lengthening techniques. I made this switch and within a couple of weeks, I was back to symptom free!
As a we move through life, the needs of our bodies are constantly changing. Just because you start to have symptoms again, doesn’t mean you are broken. It just means you need to switch things up a bit. Revaluate. Experiment. Figure out what you need to add or take away in your life to find your sweet spot of strength and flexibility.
Side note, the first time I got a cold and a stomach flu with a prolapse my symptoms came back too. Blowing your nose, sneezing, coughing, vomiting… it can all fatigue your pelvic floor quickly, causing symptoms. It doesn’t mean that you are back to square one. It just means that you are challenging your pelvic floor and you are actually in the process of making it stronger!
A HOLISTIC APPROACH – HOW YOUR MIND AND EMOTIONS PLAY A ROLE IN HEALING
Yes, I have a mommy shark shirt and my son LOVES it whenever I wear it :)
About nine months into my healing journey, I read the book You Can Heal Your Life by Louise Hay. The book dissects how our thoughts/mental patterns/beliefs impact our physical bodies. Negative thoughts create a negative physical state, or dis-ease. It even breaks down where we specifically carry certain negative emotions (Hay’s book, Heal Your Body goes into this topic even deeper -- a book on my read list!).
According to Hay, bladder problems are associated with “anxiety, holding on to old ideas, fear of letting go, being pissed off.” “Bring pissed off” really stuck with me. I am not one to get angry. I get sad and then try to jump to gratitude as quickly as possible. The book provides many exercises on how to dig deep into our belief system and start to change our thought patterns into more positive, healthy outcomes. I specifically spent time journaling on things that I had been angry about, but chose to ignore (something I think most natural optimists struggle with!). I spent some time really trying to experience the emotion, “pissed off,” by yelling into and punching pillows. Not gonna lie, it felt pretty good.
For bladder issues, she suggests repeating the mantra, “I comfortably and easily release the old and welcome the new in my life. I am safe.” On my bathroom mirror, you will find a post it note that says, “I release the old and welcome the new.” Whenever I brush my teeth, do my makeup, etc., I look at myself in the mirror and repeat it.
I believe whole-heartedly that doing the mental work in Hay’s book helped me heal. Prayer, too. Then again, I believe strongly in the mind, body, spirit connection and that they all need to work together.
MY HOPE FOR YOU
If you are struggling with pelvic floor dysfunction, you are not alone. I hope you get the support you need from doctors, physical therapists, therapists, friends, family, and most of all, I hope you support yourself. I hope you believe that you are strong and capable. I hope you believe you are worthy of the time and energy it takes to heal. Because my dear friend, you are. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out. Much love and big hugs to you!