Jun 5

“Have You Been Doing Your Kegel Exercises?”

OB: Have you been doing your Kegel exercises?”
Mother: “Not religiously…why is that bad?”
OB: “Well…you won’t have any issues having another baby or anything but I’m fairly certain your husband will be able to tell.”

OB to mother at 6 week postpartum check up.

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There are 20 comments to this post.

Kristin had this to say, Jun 5, 2011 @ 3:11 pm (Quote)

????????
WHAT!?!??!

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Jenn Mossholder had this to say, Jun 5, 2011 @ 3:15 pm (Quote)

Ergh. I hate it when the docs always make sexual references to my clients immediately following birth or at the PP check.

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Nicole Reply:
June 6th, 2011 at 8:25 am Nicole(Quote)

Most women are eager to resume sexual activity following birth. There are exceptions, of course, but it’s the doctor’s job to talk about sex postpartum. Do you mean that you don’t like how it’s presented?

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Kat Reply:
June 6th, 2011 at 8:40 am Kat(Quote)

Many times, the “sexual references” referred to are misogynist and based on the assumption that the woman’s genitalia exist for the purpose of giving the male pleasure.

e.g. “I put in an extra stitch, Dad. You’ll thank me later!” *revolting wink*

“Oh, you haven’t been doing kegels. Well, your husband will notice.” (No reference to the woman’s experience, or any of the health benefits of having a toned pelvic floor, JUST the husband)

I’m sure there are plenty more, but you get the general idea. And yes, I start feeling interested in being intimate with my husband usually around 4-5 weeks postpartum, and after my first was born we couldn’t hold out any more and indulged our mutual desire for intimacy the night before my postpartum checkup. I was terrified the doctor would be able to tell and would somehow chide me. I was so naive, and hadn’t yet gained the confidence to recognize that my body is my own, and the doctor is a facilitator of care, NOT an ultimate authority with power to give or withhold permission over what I do with my own body.

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Nicole Reply:
June 6th, 2011 at 9:33 am Nicole(Quote)

I see what you mean, and I agree.

I’m sorry that you were afraid your doctor would chastise you I had a CNM give me the green light 4 weeks postpartum (that’s when she did her last checkup). I discovered to my dismay that night that I still had stitches that she neglected to tell me about Why I was willing to have sex when I wasn’t willing to check for myself to see if my perineum was healed I will never know lol, but still, she shouldn’t have said “You can start again any time, but since you’re breastfeeding use extra lube” when I still had visible stitches.

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Amber Reply:
June 8th, 2011 at 8:48 am Amber(Quote)

“the doctor is a facilitator of care, NOT an ultimate authority with power to give or withhold permission over what I do with my own body.”
Beautifully said!

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Jessers had this to say, Jun 5, 2011 @ 3:16 pm (Quote)

Jeez, there are so many other, more CONSTRUCTIVE, ways to tell that…and this OB is highly misinformed: nowadays, Kegels are considered to be actually potentially detrimental to the pelvic floor muscles, because they only exercise a small part of it, leading to imbalance with the other muscular fascias.

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Jordan Reply:
June 5th, 2011 at 3:51 pm Jordan(Quote)

Thank you! Yes, kegels are outdated and the correct information needs to be passed along. Proper posture goes a lot longer for a good pelvic floor than kegels.

Sorry this woman had such a rude (and misinformed) doctor though!

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Wendy Reply:
June 5th, 2011 at 6:13 pm Wendy(Quote)

Oooooo! Links, links, links, please!

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Emily Reply:
June 5th, 2011 at 6:17 pm Emily(Quote)

yeah i would love to see some stuff on this too… i have heard NOTHING but kegels since i had my first of 4 – 4.5 years ago! and while i don’t just sit and do hundreds of them like our Bradley class told us to, i do them every once in a while and it’s seemed to help a little ???

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Melissa Reply:
June 5th, 2011 at 6:58 pm Melissa(Quote)

http://mamasweat.blogspot.com/2010/05/pelvic-floor-party-kegels-are-not.html

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Jessers Reply:
June 5th, 2011 at 7:15 pm Jessers(Quote)

I learned it here, but similar things were reposted around other websites
http://mamasweat.blogspot.com/2010/05/pelvic-floor-party-kegels-are-not.html

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Pelvic Therapy Specialists Houston Reply:
June 5th, 2011 at 10:23 pm Pelvic Therapy Specialists Houston(Quote)

Thats right Jessers the natural ways are more reliable. Kegels have very good testimonies to say.

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Trista had this to say, Jun 5, 2011 @ 3:42 pm (Quote)

Ok, is this not sexual harassment!?

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Kara had this to say, Jun 5, 2011 @ 5:16 pm (Quote)

I have only rarely done kegels, and have had 5 kids, and my husband doesn’t seem to think there’s anything wrong down there. Oh, and after my last 2 pregnancies at my post-partum checkups my MW and OB both commented on how strong and well-healed everything was down there.

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lilmrsmchenry Reply:
June 7th, 2011 at 8:49 am lilmrsmchenry(Quote)

Same here. Because lets face it, with a bunch of kids,I have better things to do with my down time. Everything is fine and dandy, I don’t even have any problems with incontinence.
If I might be quite blunt, I think that orgasming regularly keeps my pelvic floor stronger then the occasional kegal exercise. It includes more muscles as well.

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Jessica had this to say, Jun 5, 2011 @ 5:36 pm (Quote)

Wow. Well, luckily my husband is okay waiting until I feel like becoming sexually active again, and wouldn’t dare mention if he noticed a difference. After all, it’s not all about him and his sex drive, it’s about family.

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Jessers Reply:
June 5th, 2011 at 7:20 pm Jessers(Quote)

To be fair, if there really is a problem with the woman’s pelvic floor, it might also be about HER sex life (other than her life in general), so it’s not like the issue is split into different parties, and physicians should start adressing that, instead of making “clever” remarks.

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Wendy had this to say, Jun 5, 2011 @ 6:15 pm (Quote)

In the early 80s, a few years after my mother had given birth to her fourth, a doctors said, “I can do an operation on you that would tighten everything up and drive your husband crazy!” (Not the bad crazy. The wink-wink-sexual kind of crazy). Because under the laws of Patriarchy, women’s bodies aren’t functional. They’re ornamental.

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