I Thought My Insides Were Falling Out – What I Didn't Expect After Childbirth

When Helen Ledwick typed "why do my insides consciousness for illustration they're falling out" into Google a decade ago, she had nary thought that hunt would people nan opening of a life-changing journey.

The erstwhile BBC 5 Live journalist and podcaster was experiencing pelvic organ prolapse - a information that affects astir 1 successful 12 women, but which galore person ne'er moreover heard of.

Prolapse happens erstwhile 1 aliases much of nan organs successful nan pelvis, specified arsenic nan bladder, bowel aliases uterus, gaffe from their accustomed position and bulge into nan vagina. It's not life-threatening, but it tin person a profound effect connected regular life, relationships and intelligence health.

For Helen, nan daze came conscionable 2 weeks aft a difficult commencement pinch her 2nd child.

"I stood up from nan sofa and abruptly felt things shift," she recalls. "It felt for illustration erstwhile a tampon isn't sitting properly, you tin consciousness something's not right."

Confused and frightened, she grabbed a reflector and her telephone to spot what was happening.

"I'd ne'er moreover heard nan word prolapse before," she says, and since talking openly astir it she's realised it's often a "taboo" taxable contempt being very common.

Helen believes nan shame and stigma surrounding it has led to a deficiency of consciousness among women and wellness professionals - thing she's now fighting to change.

Helen says her diagnosis, confirmed by a doctor, brought disorder and fearfulness arsenic she was "hoping for an explanation, hole aliases immoderate consciousness of urgency, alternatively I sewage a motion of nan shoulders."

The first proposal she was fixed was to not do thing that could make it worse specified arsenic running, jumping aliases lifting.

"It benignant of felt for illustration nan proposal was don't unrecorded your life," she says.

Perhaps much debilitating than nan beingness symptoms was nan isolation Helen felt.

"You unrecorded pinch it successful embarrassment, silence, shame and isolation," she explains. "Because you don't talk astir it, you deliberation you're nan only personification successful nan world it's happened to."

Helen initially ventured onto Instagram to activity support. Finding different group connected nan societal level who were likewise anxious and confused and successful immoderate cases excessively embarrassed to activity thief prompted her to yet motorboat a podcast and constitute a book, Why mums don't jump.

Her extremity was to create a level for women to stock stories and break nan soundlessness astir pelvic health.

"I was angry because no-one ever talked astir it. So I decided I would.

"I wanted to springiness women nan knowledge that I'd recovered truthful difficult to travel by, and comfortableness successful knowing they were not connected their own."

Dr Nighat Arif, a women's wellness specialist, says Helen's acquisition is acold from unsocial and issues tin originate arsenic symptoms aren't ever obvious.

"Sometimes physically location isn't a lump to see, there's conscionable a emotion of unit and it mightiness beryllium successful nan little back, astatine nan beforehand aliases somewhat higher up adjacent your belly button," she explains. "The symptoms tin besides beryllium much pronounced during activity which is again massively taboo."

Prolapse tin hap for a assortment of reasons including childbirth, dense lifting, being overweight aliases moreover aft a hysterectomy. And successful uncommon cases, it tin impact men too.

Pelvic level exercises and manner changes tin thief to amended symptoms, but sometimes aesculapian curen is needed specified arsenic vaginal pessaries aliases surgery.

Gynaecologist Dr Christine Ekechi says women pinch prolapse whitethorn announcement a swelling aliases a lump wrong their pussy "as fundamentally what has happened is that we person weakening of nan ligaments wrong nan pelvic level that tin move for illustration nan bladder".

In her case, betterment has been slow, but transformative.

"For maine it's been a agelong process of building up slowly, doing postpartum [immediately aft pregnancy] exercises, building up immoderate spot work."

Eventually she saw a physio who helped her to commencement moving again. Helen says this was "a monolithic infinitesimal because I really thought that was thing I would ne'er do again."

Now, Helen is doing much than she ever thought imaginable and has signed up for a 10k run.

"I consciousness bully and I've learned really to negociate my symptoms. I've still sewage prolapse, but it doesn't norm my life successful nan measurement that it erstwhile was.

"I consciousness for illustration I'm benignant of winning nan battle."

• Find retired much astir nan symptoms of pelvic level prolapse connected nan NHS website