Cystitis, Bladder & UTI's

Jennifer;

Welcome to our board.  I waited to see if the doctor would address your question before I entered the discussion.  I have some questions for you.  Do you have the same OB that you had for your previous delivery?

If not, the obvious answer is that your current OB needs to know your history so that your delivery can be manedged so that the risk of this happening again is minimised.  Since you are early in your pregnancy ask your doctor if exercise would help you prevent this from happening again.

Another name for bladder prolapse is cystocele and post-menopausal women can be at risk for this.  Kegels exercises and sometimes hormone therapy can be used to help manage this if it is a minor situation.

Hope this helps

gentle hugs and congratulations on your new baby!

Harriette--Thanks for your kind response. I have spoken to my current midwife and will talk about the delivery plan in more detail at upcoming appointments. I know that it is fairly common in older women, but I was shocked that I had it happen to me at age 28. I would eventually like to have a 4th child as well, so I am hoping for not too much "damage" down there! I hope the doctor here has a chance to respond.

Thanks again.
Jennifer

Pelvic organ prolapse, or descent of the pelvic organs towards the vaginal opening, is common.  Approximately 200,000 operations are performed for prolapse annually in the United States.  Prolapse symptoms do seem to be linked to vaginal delivery with increased prevalence with each subsequent delivery, so with more deliveries you are probably at increased risk to have bothersome prolapse.  On the other hand, if you are planning to have more than one or two children, there are increased risks of having multiple cesarean deliveries.  In the end, we really do not know why some women develop prolapse with multiple deliveries and others do not.  The good news is that most women do not develop prolapse, despite multiple deliveries.  We think that doing Kegel exercises helps to prevent prolapse from worsening, and will also treat incontinence symptoms.  More research is needed so that we can adequately counsel patients regarding their risk.