Postpartum Related Conditions

Prepping for your new baby (or 2nd or 3rd baby) most likely includes selecting a crib, reading reviews on strollers, getting insurance to cover your breast pumps, picking out your pediatrician, and asking other moms ‘How do you do it all and stay so sane!?”

Rarely in the playbook “Prepare for New Baby” does it mention, “P.S. and by the way, YOUR S**T IS NOT THE SAME!”

No need to panic. Instead, Let’s make a game plan for YOU – the mom, the birthing individual. 

Currently in the United States you are NOT routinely prescribed pelvic health physical therapy postpartum. And YES in other countries – looking at you France, Belgium, & UK! – they DO routinely prescribe pelvic floor PT postpartum. Oui Oui!

Our healing tissues need sleep, rest, hydration, and good nutrition while maintaining normal to low levels of stress. Out of the gate you’re running on a deficit of sleep just to bring your baby into the world and are now tasked with keeping it alive as well as asking your own body (very nicely) to please heal quickly, efficiently, and perfectly – k thanks bye!

No two postpartum journeys are the same. Even thinking, ‘Oh I had a great 1st pregnancy/postpartum, so my next will be just the same’ does not always equate. Sometimes it does, and that’s great! – but not all the time, actually, not most of the time. 

Setting yourself up for success, similar to how you want to set you and your family up for success with a new baby SHOULD be in the same playbook as getting ready for your newborn. 

Thinking, ‘This is just the way it is now’ in regards to pelvic pains, sacroiliac joint dysfunction, back pain, urinary leakage, or incomplete bowel emptying make mothering and parenting harder than it already is! Wherever you are in your postpartum journey (newly postpartum, 1-3 years out, sending kids to college) there will always be opportunities to dive into what dysfunction you’re having and work on ways to correct it. 

Dysfunction including diastasis recti or abdominal separation (leading towards hernias or low back pain), urinary or fecal incontinence, pelvic organ prolapse (heaviness, pressure, urinary and bowel issues), constipation, sacroiliac joint and back pain, guidance for return to sport or workout activities safely and efficiently are all equally important reasons to seek professional care from a skilled pelvic health physical therapist. 

It is normal to have a little discomfort with sitting (vaginal or cesarean), some mild bowel irregularities, and urinary leakage for a week postpartum but beyond that initial healing phase those things should not persist.

At Frankly Pelvic, we are going to assess you – at home, virtually, or in our office – going over a full history of your pregnancy, labor & delivery, and time until now postpartum. Looking at what resources you do have available, finding out what other resources you might benefit from (mental health therapy, lactation, pediatric PT/OT/SLP, postpartum doula, chiropractic, acupuncture, so much more) and linking you with those providers.

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