There are many parts of motherhood that have taken me by surprise over the course of the 5 years since my eldest was born.
The intensity and regularity of the Mum guilt feelings. The overwhelming lioness desire to protect your young at all costs. The amount of money I now spend on kinder eggs.
There are also many aspects of motherhood that cause me more than a little irritation.
The fact that I can NEVER eat anything at all in the presence of my children without it needing to be "shared". The fact that I can never eat anything while it's still hot (the first time, not after 10 rounds of microwaving...). The fact that the second I settle myself down on the loo, someone will ALWAYS come pounding up the stairs declaring that they're "desperate" to go!
One of these things which combines both the surprise element and the irritation factor is the bladder weakness I've experienced since the boys came along.
Of course I knew it was a possibility....it's well documented that birth isn't exactly the best thing for our pelvic floors, but I guess I thought that I was going to get away with this particular motherhood treat given that all 3 of my boys were born by c section. I naively assumed that the lack of vaginal involvement in their births would mean that my pelvic floor would retain all of its former youthful glory.
I was wrong.
It's something I've noticed getting worse and worse over the last couple of years. It started out with that nervous feeling when you sneeze...hoping nothing leaked! And then I began to notice it was getting harder and harder to hold on every time I needed a wee.
I remember being in Asda a few months ago doing the shopping and feeling nature call, only when I got to the bathroom every cubicle was busy...and stayed that way for FAR longer than I was comfortable with! I was on the verge of tears by the time someone finally emerged and I was able to relieve myself!
Don't get me wrong, I'm extremely fortunate that it's not as bad as it could be....I CAN hold on, just about! But that panic is always there, the niggling doubt that maybe I won't be able to hold it this time!
And I find that irritating and anxiety inducing enough. I can only imagine how much more difficult that is if you're one of the 7 MILLION women who find themselves more severely affected by bladder weakness.
It's estimated that half of all females will suffer with bladder weakness at some point in their lives, which is a surprisingly high number of women considering how little it's discussed.
Well I don't like to shy away from difficult or embarrassing subjects so I've volunteered to try out the Innovo - a non-invasive device designed to treat the root cause of incontinence (weakened pelvic floor muscles!) using pain-free muscle stimulation. The Innovo is clinically proven to work, with 93% of users seeing a marked improvement within just 4 weeks and 86% finding that they were completely dry or almost dry after 12 weeks.
I'm really intrigued to see how I get on with Innovo, and I'll be reporting back on how I find it after my trial. I'm hoping that I won't have to endure any more nail biting loo waits in Asda in the future!
If you suffer with bladder weakness, know that you're not alone and that you don't have to just live with it.
Visit www.restorethefloor.com to find out more about bladder weakness and the Innovo.
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