Will my bladder survive labor?!

[Jill L.]

Hello!

I've not posted here in awhile, but I was wondering if anyone could share their experience of their IC after giving birth. I'm currently 35 weeks along and am getting quite nervous about my bladder being able to survive the trauma of labor:( I've actually gotten a good remission up until about a week ago. It's still not as bad, but it has got me thinking about the near future! I'm worried that the delivery will make my bladder flare....Any comments would be greatly appreciated:)

Thank you,

Jill:)

[jaime15]

I didn't have a vaginal birth but c-section instead. (Not by choice though) So in case you end up either way............I had an emergency c-section and, lo and behold, I had a remission til my son was 4 months old. Then I just started having to take the meds again.
It's normal to worry about delivery, whether it's your first or fifth. It's different every time. And we wouldn't be human if we didn't fret a little anyway.;)
You'll do great!! And in the end you'll have that healthy baby to look at!:D
Best wishes for a quick labor.........:thumbsup:

[dyno]

As Jaimie said, we are all different. Your bladder will survive but in my case I did have problems with my bladder. It just gets so spastic and the trauma of the labor made it worse. I had to have a catheter the first time, in fact I was cathed 7 times and sent home with one before my bladder settled down, that was over the course of a week. The next preganancy was better, but I still had a little trouble, not near as bad as the first though.

Ending on a good note, many people breeze right through with no problems. But it is not a true picture to tell you that no one has trouble. Just hang in there and you will get through it fine and have a beautiful baby too!:kiss:

[Jill L.]

Thanks ladies, I guess I'll just have to pray that everything will be okay. I'm just worried about being horribly distracted by pain and missing this special time with my new baby....

Jill:)

[Melly]

Hi Jill,

I read your post and thought about myself 3 years ago, right before I had Ellen. I was scared that bladder would suffer more damage, that I would probably be incontinent for the rest of my life, that I would have bladder pain all the time. I gave birth naturally (she was 8 lbs 9 ounces) and none of those things happened. And now I am in for round two in September. I am carrying much lower than before, and have had more flaring, but overall I am doing okay.

I hope my experiences are reassuirng. I was really scared, but came through it fine. I was in remission leading up to the delivery and afterwards too.

Hang in there. Your body will know what to do, regardless of how you deliver, a c-section or with an epidural, or natural, it will be okay.

Take care and congratulations, you're almost there.

Melly

[Jill L.]

Thanks Melly. That is reassuring. I've been pretty lucky with a pretty good semi remission for awhile and just around 34 weeks is when I started to get a little uncomfortable at times. I think it is the pressure of her on my bladder. I'm really hoping some of this remission will last after her birth. I forgot how nice it was to not think about my bladder constently!
Actually, I found this workshop handout yesterday from the ICA I forgotten I had on IC and pregnancy. It was done by Kristene Whitmore and Debra Slade. Their study was pretty positive and showed many many women go into remission during pregnancy and generally stayed so for an average of 6-9 months postpartum. What I found interesting is that it was also mentioned that there are actually also some women who's IC appears to get somewhat better permamently after giving birth. I had never heard that one before!

Jill:)