When we talk about pelvic floor problems after childbirth, you can't escape the fact that many women don't get the birth they wanted or signed up for. A difficult experience can leave you feeling distressed, anxious or traumatised, but how often do you really get to reflect on what happened? And might it be something worth exploring?

Illiyin Morrison is a birth trauma specialist midwife and a birth debrief facilitator. Illiyin supports women to overcome a difficult perinatal experience - whether that's pregnancy, birth or postpartum. She's the author of The Birth Debrief and a mum-of-two, who you might know from Instagram as @mixing.up.motherhood.

In this episode, Helen and Illiyin discuss what we mean by a birth debrief, who it's for and why it may - or may not - be a useful tool. They talk about how we define trauma, how we begin to pick up the pieces, and how sometimes feeling heard is enough.

You can find Illiyin's book, The Birth Debrief: Reflecting on pregnancy, reframing birth, redefining post-partum, here

You can find Illiyin's website here

For more support with birth trauma check out:

• The Birth Trauma Association - UK charity that supports women who suffer birth trauma
• Make Birth Better - Collective of parents and professionals working to end the suffering from birth trauma
• MASIC - Charity for mothers with anal sphincter injuries in childbirth

You can find further resources for pelvic floor dysfunction here

In a previous episode, Helen discussed the mental health implications of pelvic floor dysfunction with perinatal psychiatrist, Dr Rebecca Moore. You can listen here.

Season 5 of Why Mums Don't Jump is sponsored by IMEDicare - Pelvic Health Naturally. IMEDicare supplies a range of easy-to-use, medically approved products including Lumana incontinence leggings and running shorts, the Efemia bladder support and Enna Pelvic Ball; a discount code is available via my online affiliate shop.

Sign up for the Why Mums Don't Jump email newsletter for the latest news and offers!

Bowel incontinence, also known as faecal incontinence, is estimated to affect up to one in ten women after childbirth. More if you include those who can’t hold wind, which may sound trivial but can obviously be pretty mortifying. Severe tears in childbirth are a common cause; third and fourth degree tears - which affect the muscle around the anus.

In this episode, Helen is joined by Erica Macdonald - a listener who lives in Devon with her husband and three-year-old daughter. Erica was diagnosed with an anal injury - a severe tear - after her daughter was born and has been living with bowel incontinence ever since. She talks about the impact it's had on her life, her struggle to access support and her decision to take control of her own story:

You can find out more about Sacral Nerve Stimulation here

You can find the MASIC foundation here

Listen to the Why Mums Don't Jump episode: Sara's Story here

NICE guidelines recommend that all women who have had a vaginal birth should be offered a post birth rectal examination. Find out more >

Season 5 of Why Mums Don't Jump is sponsored by IMEDicare - Pelvic Health Naturally. IMEDicare supplies a range of easy-to-use, medically approved products including Lumana incontinence leggings and running shorts, the Efemia bladder support and Enna Pelvic Ball; a discount code is available via my online affiliate shop.

Sign up for the Why Mums Don't Jump email newsletter for the latest news and offers!

How do you get the most out of your GP appointment if you have symptoms of pelvic floor dysfunction? Whether it's urinary incontinence, bowel incontinence, pelvic organ prolapse, sexual dysfunction or chronic pelvic pain - how do you maximise your (all-too-brief) consultation to get the help you need?

In this episode Helen speaks to Dr Aziza Sesay, a GP with a special interest in women’s health and an educator, who shares evidence-based health information on social media and through her website: ‘Talks with Dr. Sesay'.

Dr Aziza explains how to help your doctor help you - with suggestions on what to prepare, what questions to ask and what to do if you feel you're not being listened to. She lifts the lid on vaginal examinations and reimagines a world where women's health is made a priority. Oh and there's a farting chair. Yep.

Dr Aziza is @talkswithdrsesay on Instagram

You can find the the NICE guidelines for the prevention, assessment and non-surgical management of pelvic floor dysfunction here

You can read more about Perinatal Pelvic Health Services here

Season 5 of Why Mums Don't Jump is sponsored by IMEDicare - Pelvic Health Naturally. IMEDicare supplies a range of easy-to-use, medically approved products including Lumana incontinence leggings and running shorts, the Efemia bladder support and Enna Pelvic Ball; a discount code is available via my online affiliate shop.

Sign up for the Why Mums Don't Jump email newsletter for the latest news and offers!

Helen speaks to Holly Puddephatt, a content creator from Leeds, host of the podcast Me, Myself & Mum Life and mum to toddler, Thea.

Holly discovered she had pelvic organ prolapse in October last year, two years after her daughter was born. Like so many of us, she'd never heard of it and was terrified about what it would mean, especially as someone with a huge passion for exercise.

In this episode, Holly describes how she set about reclaiming her life: absorbing as much information as she could, seeking out the support of a pelvic health physiotherapist, practising hypopressives and sourcing a pessary, as well as sharing her journey on social media.

Holly is @hollyandthea on Instagram
Find out more about pessaries in this episode of the podcast
Find out more about hypopressives in this episode of the podcast
Find out more about returning to exercise with prolapse in this episode of the podcast

Season 5 of Why Mums Don't Jump is sponsored by IMEDicare - Pelvic Health Naturally. IMEDicare supplies a range of easy-to-use, medically approved products including Lumana incontinence leggings and running shorts, the Efemia bladder support and Enna Pelvic Ball; a discount code is available via my online affiliate shop.

Sign up for the Why Mums Don't Jump email newsletter for the latest news and offers!

Everywoman is back!

After a sparkling launch in 2023, the Everywoman Festival is returning to Cardiff on Saturday June 15th, 2024!

The festival is about offering empowerment, support and education on health topics that may be difficult or considered taboo to talk about. This year there'll be a whopping six tents, with more than sixty expert speakers, drop-ins and workshops covering topics including menopause, pelvic health, sexual health, IBS, endometriosis, gender health inequalities, cancer survivorship and chronic conditions, as well as drop-in sessions, support groups, music, street food, burlesque and booby pompons!

Helen is an ambassador for the festival and in this special, bonus episode she's joined by fellow ambassadors: the GP and health educator Dr Aziza Sesay; pelvic health physiotherapist and creator of #SqueezeAlong, Suzanne Vernazza; Love Your Period founder and an activist living with a brain tumour, Molly Fenton; and Everywoman founder and colorectal consultant, Julie Cornish. They share their highlights from 2023 and what they're looking forward to this year.

You can buy tickets from The Everywoman Festival website

You can follow @theeverywomanfestival on Instagram

Forget Glastonbury! There's a women's health festival happening in Cardiff on Saturday June 24th, 2023, and it's going to be epic!

The EveryWoman Festival is about offering empowerment, support and education on health topics that may be difficult or considered taboo to talk about.

In this bonus episode, Helen is joined by the colorectal surgeon and EveryWoman founder, Julie Cornish, as well as fellow-speakers: the GP and health educator Dr Aziza Sesay and author of PMSL, Luce Brett. They give us a flavour of what's to come - smashing pelvic health taboos, closing the gender health gap, periods, menopause, mental health and sexual wellbeing...alongside belly dancing, cookery, music and more!

You can buy tickets from The EveryWoman Festival website

You can follow @theeverywomanfestival on Instagram

If you've ever Googled your pelvic floor problems, you've probably come across Hypopressives. They're not easy to describe, but are essentially a series of breathing and posture exercises for your core and pelvic floor, with a focus on decreasing intra-abdominal pressure.

While they're not currently a recommended NHS treatment, more evidence is emerging about the use of hypopressives in treating symptoms of pelvic floor dysfunction, including incontinence and prolapse. Alice Housman is a hypopressives trainer with a background in gynaecology nursing, and she’s working to publish her own research. She's also a mum with pelvic organ prolapse, who found that hypopressives helped her to become virtually asymptomatic.

In this episode Helen and Alice discuss hypopressives - what they are, how they're thought to work and what the evidence is behind them.

As ever, this content is not intended as medical advice, so please seek out your own professional support and, of course, do your own research.

You can find Alice's website here

Alice is @hypopressives_with_alice on Instagram

The paper that Alice refers to is Effectiveness of Hypopressive Exercises in Women with Pelvic Floor Dysfunction: A Randomised Controlled Trial (Navarro-Brazález, B.; Prieto-Gómez, V.; Prieto-Merino, D.; Sánchez-Sánchez, B.; McLean, L.; Torres-Lacomba, M. Effectiveness of Hypopressive Exercises in Women with Pelvic Floor Dysfunction: A Randomised Controlled Trial. J. Clin. Med. 2020, 9, 1149. https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm9041149)

Not an ad!

In 2022, for the first time, a pelvic health guide was published to help non-specialist clinicians advise women on pelvic floor muscle training. It's for GPs, midwives, nurses and health visitors - to try to plug a long-standing knowledge gap and help more women with pelvic floor dysfunction to access practical support.

In this episode, Helen speaks to Dr Adanna Okeahialam, an Obstetrics & Gynaecology registrar with an interest in Urogynaecology, and co-author of the 'Pelvic Floor Muscle Training: A Practical Guide'.

They discuss the sudden spotlight on pelvic health, why pelvic floor exercises are a first line treatment and their role in preventing pelvic floor dysfunction.

NICE Guideline: Pelvic floor dysfunction: prevention and non-surgical management (Published 9 Dec 2021)
RCOG Position Statement: Pelvic Floor Health
RCOG Survey: Pelvic Floor Health
Pelvic health resources from POGP

If you're new to pelvic floor dysfunction and want to go back to basics, go back and listen to this episode.

The book, Why Mums Don't Jump: Ending the Pelvic Floor Taboo, is available NOW!