During the last couple of weeks, I’ve been on a urology elective, and I have seen soooo many patients with urinary incontinence, so I’ve been thinking about it A LOT.
I don’t know how many of you had issues with urinary incontinence during your first pregnancy - I definitely did. I tried to do pelvic floor exercises to strengthen my pelvic muscles, but almost every day in my third trimester, I managed to leak urine when laughing, sneezing, or coughing, and I frequently was running to the bathroom, hunched over, hoping that I would make it. I know some of you know what I’m talking about ;)
Now, I am pregnant again (I know, I know, I haven’t told you yet - that is for another post), and, although I am just in the early second trimester, I am already having worsening incontinence. I say, “worsening,” because I continued to have mild stress incontinence even after my first pregnancy. As someone in my mid-to-late 20s, this has been difficult to accept.
The worst part is that I feel as if there is little that I can do. Sure, I can do my Kegels every day, I have adopted a voiding schedule that is q2-3 hours (which kind of interrupts work), and I have eliminated caffeine from my diet, but I fear the future. Based on what I have seen in the urology clinic, it seems that I may be doomed to be incontinent. Any other mothers with urinary incontinence out there? How do you deal with it?
I did have some stress incontinence after my delivery for almost a year. … I started doing Crossfit about that time and found I had to come prepared for double-unders(jumping rope) among other things. I was surprised when about a year into working out I realized it was no longer a problem! And I have to say I attribute those workouts to having greatly reduced the problem. … Kegels are great but kind of general. Jumping while trying not to pee (while kinda peeing just a little) seemed to focus my muscles on the exact task at hand. … I read that in France they have PT for this sort of thing! You go in and do exercises with a trainer! … I am not looking forward to a second pregnancy, delivery … but my experience gives me hope there is a chance for improvement. On the other hand I know exercise alone can't fix every problem. I have a friend who suffered uterine prolapse who will have ongoing problems with this. Good luck. And thanks for sharing. We should talk about these things more.
ReplyDeleteI love that - jumping while trying not to pee! I kept secretly smiling while thinking about that all day after reading your comment :) I'll have to start trying that. There are pelvic floor physiotherapists in the states, too. I am not sure how accessible they are, but in the clinic I was in, the urologists regularly referred men and women with stress incontinence to pelvic floor PT as first line treatment.
DeleteI have suffered from incontinence and I agree that it is so great to talk about problems that likely plague so many women. My first baby took four hours to push out and I had major problems after he was born, including incontinence (as well as intense pelvic floor pain that lasted for nearly a year). I got pregnant with baby #2 when he was about fourteen months old, and the incontinence lasted throughout my second pregnancy. After my second baby was born, my obgyn suggested doing yoga and/or pilates. I started doing yoga about four times a week and my incontinence has completely resolved. Now I'm pregnant with #3, and I'm hoping that I can overcome any problems that come up.
ReplyDeleteSince starting yoga, I've heard many people say that yoga is bad for diastasis recti (which I also have). But it seems that many (most?) forms of exercise are contraindicated for people with diastasis recti. So part of me wonders if I've made that problem worse. Sometimes it seems like there's no winning!
I don't think all yoga is contraindicated, only some poses that would stress your rectus. This site was recommended: http://www.lindsaybrin.com/2012/03/diastasis-recti-core-workout.html
DeleteMine is not the sort that required surgery and I'm pretty sure it is healing. It was a slow process of focusing on the right exercises and then gradually adding planks back in. I'm still not doing all Pilates exercises but am slowly building.
I have diastasis recti, too, and I even had to have an umbilical hernia repaired after #3. I just figure that exercising and being fit is better than any potential issues with the diastasis. It does seem like a no-win! As for peeing myself, been there. I avoid trampolines and any jumping / bouncing exercises (kudos to the crossfit person!!). I am intrigued by the yoga helping. Another reason I feel like I should try yoga:-)
ReplyDeleteI'm guessing I'll have to have an umbilical hernia repair after #3 as well since it's pretty bad now and I'm at the very beginning of this pregnancy. And yes, I completely agree with you that being fit and healthy is better than worrying about diastasis. I've finally accepted that my stomach will never look like it used to -- it's just sorta bulgy and weird looking even after I got to my pre-kid-#1 weight. So my goal now is to be healthy and let that go.
DeleteI highly recommend yoga. It has helped me in so many ways..... It has built my strength a ton (I'm not a huge fan of weight lifting so for me it's a great alternative); it's helped me lose weight indirectly since I now sleep better and don't eat to deal with stress since it's helped me reduce stress; it's helped me so much mentally -- it is such a nice break from kids and I love applying the breathing techniques to my everyday life. I could go on and on. I fell in love with yoga by doing intense vinyasa/flow classes and that's primarily what I do. Every once in a while I'll treat myself with a slow, relaxing class that focuses more on breathing; pre-kid I thought this type of yoga was boring, now it's a welcome treat.
Thanks for your comments! I'm definitely going to try yoga in the future. Maybe when I'm not a mommy intern, I'll be able to exercise regularly ;)
DeleteSquats and squat prep work, alignment work and a squatty potty. http://www.katysays.com/squatty-potty/
ReplyDeleteHi. Could it be a genetic thing? I have had two pregnancies so far and has no incontinence case so far. Maybe some women are made differently from others that they suffer from incontinence when being pregnant. I'm not a doctor, just a wonder-er
ReplyDeleteHi. Could it be a genetic thing? I have had two pregnancies so far and has no incontinence case so far. Maybe some women are made differently from others that they suffer from incontinence when being pregnant. I'm not a doctor, just a wonder-er
ReplyDelete