You had your baby and your body doesn't quite feel right anymore.
"Is this normal?" you question and google-search as leaking, pain, pressure, discomfort become your day-to-day.
You just start to accept that you won't be able to run, jump, sneeze without leaking, and have intimacy without pain anymore.
You knew you had a baby. What you didn't know was that you'd be trading in your dignity.
Sound familiar? If so, I have some really good news for you, because you can get that dignity back.
With Pelvic Floor Physical Therapy.
What is the pelvic floor?
The pelvic floor is "A group of muscles, nerves, ligaments, and tissues that form a bowl in the bottom of your pelvis." (FAQ page of Reborn: Pelvic Health and Wellness). Strengthening the pelvic floor benefits your entire core, because your body is connected to those muscles, nerves, ligaments, and tissues.
Why do these issues (leaking, prolapse, pain, pressure, etc.) happen after birth?
Think about all the weight and pressure that is put on your pelvis during pregnancy, and then throughout labor and birth. Even if everything goes smoothly and no birth injuries take place, proper healing can take time and support. If you experience episiotomy, tearing, prolapse, or forceps in birth, your issues may be magnified.
In US culture it seems that the average mom doesn't know what her pelvic floor is, let alone that there is physical therapy that can help her. In other countries around the world, this isn't the case. France, for example, routinely prescribes all women 10 sessions of pelvic floor physical therapy after birth.
How Pelvic Floor Therapy is a GAME-CHANGER
You can learn how to strengthen your core, train your body to stop leaking, and enjoy intimacy. You can heal physically and emotionally from birth. You can be more confident in your motherhood and every day life and activities. You can feel better overall!
My recommendation
I can't speak for every pelvic floor therapist office, but the one I love and with whom I have personal experience is Reborn Pelvic Health and Wellness. This is on their website with regards to their philosophy of how to treat patients: "To provide an atmosphere of healing, trust, and empowerment to achieve optimal health and wellness, while generating results that you can feel." This is totally what it's like there.
The way the staff has been trained, you will feel respected, honored, and cared for in a very wholistic and kind way.
What a typical visit looks like
Every patient is different in the care that they need, but my 1-hour visits look something like this:
- Zero or minimal wait in the waiting room
- Working one-on-one with an excellent, competent PT
- She checks in with specifics about my symptoms and how I've been since my last visit
- An internal exam
- My PT gives me privacy as I change from the waist down and put a sheet over my lap. I lay down.
- When she comes back in, she ALWAYS asks permission before beginning the internal exam
- Different from the "checking" that happens to check dilation during OB visits or labor in a hospital, my PT is respectful, and gentle. It's clearly on my terms and never is anything I'm uncomfortable with.
- She presses on different parts of the internal muscles and asks if there is any pain. If there is, she tells me to butterfly a leg back and forth, or do other movements that helps alleviate the pain while she works her PT magic. When the pain is gone, she presses on a different muscle.
- She gives me privacy to change when we've finished.
- A demonstration of exercises that will help me build up my pelvic floor muscles.
- Personalized care to help me know I'm doing it right, and education about what those muscles are like and what they're doing.
- A plan to work on building my core until I come in for the next visit.
What you can do today that can make a difference
- Decide right now that you're worth it. You can have your dignity back, you can enjoy your life much more. You didn't let yourself go when you had a baby. You can heal and get the support you deserve.
- Make an appointment for a consultation with Reborn!
- Take deep breaths every day- inhaling while you let out your tummy, and exhaling while you relax it. This stretches out those pelvic floor muscles.
- Pee as soon as you have to- don't make yourself hold it.
- Even if you're not in postpartum right now, try it out! If you're pregnant, there are things they can teach you that can help labor and birth be smoother and prevent issues after birth. If it's been a long time since you had a baby, it's NOT TOO LATE!
Because Reborn is paying me to say all this...
đ They're really not. I just am SO glad I found them.
I've experienced a transformation myself. After baby #5 I finally tried it. I am so satisfied to not be leaking anymore. I feel stronger and have confidence that I didn't have before I knew about all this.
If your child had a medical need, you'd likely not hesitate to bring them in and figure it out.
When you make your own medical needs, emotional needs, social needs etc. a priority, you have the vibrance and energy to be your best self, which on its own is a good enough reason, but tends to benefit your family too.
Thank you so much for what you put your body through to have a baby. Now honor your body and help the healing process along by trying pelvic floor physical therapy. I've never met a mom who regretted it (with Reborn).