The poorly papaya

I've been pondering all day how to write the papaya story as there is quite a big back story to it all and I don't want to bore the pants off you, I mean how much can one person write about a papaya...

I guess we are about to find out....

So on a cold dark evening in November (the 22nd to be exact) in 2010, I went into labour for the first time ever with my cheeky little monkey, Isabelle. I rolled (literally) into that labour ward armed with my birth plan (what a waste of paper, time and effort that was).

Anyway, no epidural and no forceps featured in said birth plan... funny that.... Isabelle was born under stressful circumstances having had an epidural and Isabelle being dragged by forceps (sorry, 'dragged' is the only word that can be used to describe what happened (see pic below for Isabelle's war wounds)) out of my papaya.. which subsequently had to be 'patched up', shall we say...

Shortly after Isabelle was delivered, the patching hadn't worked, so I had to go back to the delivery suite for more patching.... repeat that again a couple of hours later... (are you keeping up with the patching so far?). Fast forward to 5 days later and severe papaya pain, I got taken back into hospital for one final papaya patching up (or, as I liked to call it, designer vajuju #1).

The months following her birth I had lots of papaya physio (that in itself is an experience) but it became clear that I had a prolapsed bladder. Not surprising really, but because I hadn't finished having a family, the only option was to keep up with the pelvic floor exercises and manage it because they won't repair something for you to have another baby later down the line and undo the work.

Friends knew I had this problem (mainly because as previously said, I'm an open book..).
I get asked things like 'how do you know you have a prolapse? what does it feel like?' and comments like, 'I think something isn't right down there but I'm not sure'.

For me, the way I saw it in my head, was that there was a rock (but a soft rock) blocking the papaya cave, a bit like Ali Baba's cave... you know, where Ali said 'OPEN SESAME' and the rock moves away.... no?  Just me then?

It is different for a lot of women though and it doesn't just affect women that have babies and is actually quite common.... I know, as if we didn't have enough stuff to deal with being a woman already, then they throw this into the mix too.

I can try and explain in more details but I will add this link here with NHS blurb. Not as funny as the way I'd describe it but if you want to ask me about it away from this blog feel free. Happy to describe Ali Baba's papaya cave in more detail.

Phew - so moving on. 2012, I fall pregnant with the little monkey that is Adam. When I find out I'm pregnant the fear of wrecking my designer vajuju fill me with dread and I was advised by the professionals to opt for a C-section because of the previous issues. I mulled this over and after a lot of thought, I decided to go against the C-section option.

Why? Well, for me, I didn't fancy major surgery (which people often forget that it is), and the thought of being restricted (can't drive, lift etc) when I had a two year old at home already didn't really appeal. The way I saw it was that I can try and go natural and if it ends up being a c-section then so be it.

I also thought in my head, surely,  nothing can be as bad as the first birth....

My gamble paid off and in half the time, leaving half, well, actually, probably three quarters less damage, Adam came into the world. Minor papaya fixing this time, but obviously, it didn't help the prolapse.

For me, living with a prolapse wasn't great. It didn't hurt, but it affected different aspects of my life in ways that I didn't want to live with. A couple of examples are stress incontinence, which I have to say, does improve as you become more active and your muscles get stronger. Also, when the bitch that is mother nature appeared, I couldn't wear tampax which being as active as I am, wasn't great.

So in 2014 I decided to have the prolapse surgery. I was booked in to have it in October 2014. As the operation date neared, I changed my mind and moved it to October 2015. The reason for this change was because of the recovery, which (very similar to a c-section) includes enforced rest and not lifting anything heavier than 6lb for six weeks minimum. Adam at that time was one and a half years old and I didn't think it was a) possible or b) fair on him that mummy wouldn't be able to pick him up when he was so young, so I cancelled.

2015.... *groan*...that's another story in itself... which I'll fill you in on tomorrow...

Hugs x

#papaya
#sharingiscaring