I did not have any tearing with either birth and I thought because of that I was in the clear!
And then about 5 months after the birth of my second son, I started to leak pee when I ran...
Eventually I started to limit certain activities like lifting heavy or doing any sort of jumping exercise... because I just didn’t feel strong.
I was a personal trainer at the time and I had started a business with the intention of helping women prepare for birth…so they could avoid leaking …but how would they trust me if I was leaking?
This was the first time I realized how much the pelvic floor affects our quality of life
I even began to worry about being intimate with my husband...
I started to do some research of my own, and when I read about the most common treatments in North America, I was devastated.
Something about our “normal” treatments didn’t feel right to me.
❌ There was overactive bladder medication…which is known to cause dry eyes, a dry mouth and a dry vagina…
❌ Of course there was surgery like a bladder sling, or even a hysterectomy…
❌ Or there was the option to wear pads every day …
None of these options felt like they were addressing the root cause. And I knew, deep down, there had to be another way.
Thankfully, I learned about Pelvic Floor Physiotherapy...
I had never heard of this profession and when I learned first hand what they do, I was astounded that this therapy was not more widely known about and used.
I learned about how the pelvic floor works, what can interfere with function and that there were simple exercises I could do to fix the leaks.
This was when things started to shift for me. When I began to have hope again...
And when I started to apply fitness principles I had been using as a personal trainer to the pelvic floor…. Everything changed.
Very quickly the leaks were gone and I began to blend the pelvic floor exercises I was doing with full body training.
I was able to run again. I felt stronger and more confident and wanted to tell every woman I met about this secret.
Several years later, as I was going through perimenopause I developed an autoimmune thyroid condition.
I started to experience constipation for the first time in my life and I was so confused - I hadn’t changed anything yet I was having trouble pooping well!
I ended up developing an early stage rectocele and a stage 2 uterine prolapse.
By this time I was well into my pelvic health business and was always researching. I learned about a technique being used in Europe called the Hypopressive method that was helpful for prolapse.
Once I learned the technique and practiced consistently, my uterine prolapse completely disappeared in about 3 months.