Dr. Gandhi Discusses Urinary Incontinence After Childbirth
Following is a video transcript by Peahen Gandhi, MD, FACOG, FPMRS.
“Hi everybody, it’s Dr. Gandhi from Cherokee Women’s Health Specialists. I just wanted to take a few minutes to talk to you about urinary incontinence, specifically after childbirth. You know, giving birth is one of the most beautiful things, and you never forget how amazing it was to share that moment with your significant other, bringing life into the world. But there are a lot of changes that happen to our body during pregnancy, as I’m sure many of you know.
The Importance of Keeping Your Pelvic Floor Strong
One of the especially important things that I wanted to discuss today is doing things to help your pelvic floor be strong. It’s important during the time of delivery and for after delivery. We don’t emphasize it enough, but it’s really important to do pelvic floor exercises, starting in your early third trimester if there are no contraindications. This means helping to strengthen the muscles that are in and around the bladder so that the functionality of the bladder is maintained.
After childbirth, there are a lot of changes that happen in the ligaments around the supportive structures in our pelvis. They respond to a hormone called relaxin, which helps relax our pelvic floor to accommodate the baby coming through the birth canal. During that process, we may experience some changes associated with that, such as not being able to hold our urine as well or experiencing a small amount of leakage when we exercise or pick up the baby.
Continue Pelvic Floor Exercises After Childbirth
It’s especially important to continue the pelvic floor exercises even after childbirth. Additionally, there are other important lifestyle factors to consider. Maintaining a healthy weight is important, trying to stay within the recommended weight gain during pregnancy, which is 25 to 35 pounds unless otherwise instructed by your physician. It’s also important to focus on avoiding constipation and drinking enough water. These are all things that can exacerbate any leakage issues.
Your Postpartum Visit
When you come in for your postpartum visit, it’s crucial to talk to your provider about any issues you’re having with leakage because there are many things we can do to help you. It may be possible to cure the problem so that you don’t have to worry about it long-term, or we can help you maintain the support you need. We can even prescribe pelvic floor exercises specific to your needs based on your anatomy.
Additionally, it’s important to consider other factors that may worsen the leakage, such as environmental factors like diet, lack of exercise, weight, or anatomical issues like prolapse that may require surgical correction.
We’re Here to Help You
We are here to help you because we want you to achieve your optimal health so that you can enjoy your baby and be a healthy woman without having to deal with these issues. The bladder’s main goal is to empty and store urine, so if you’re having issues with either of those functions, it can affect your day-to-day life. I urge you not to be ashamed, but to talk about it, because there are things we can do to help you.
You can always call me, Dr. Gandhi, or any of the providers here at Cherokee Women’s Health. We want you to achieve your health goals, so if you have any of these issues, please talk to us at your postpartum visit.”
If you have any questions, please call us at 770.720.7733 or simply request an appointment online at either our Canton or Woodstock location.
