“Bravemumma came about from my birth experience with my first child, Elsie,” Stephanie said.
“I realised that my birth didn’t go to plan, and it also felt like it was not normal.”
Stephanie suffered from a condition called a levator avulsion prolapse, where her muscles were torn off her pelvic floor during the birth of her first child.
The experience prompted Stephanie to write a book about what happened to help tell the story and prevent women, like her daughter, from going through the same thing in the future.
Her book is called The Day My Vagina Broke.
“Talking about the most private part of your physical body to the world takes a lot of courage,” she said.
“I wasn’t feeling brave, but I did it anyway.
“I became brave and Mumma was what we used to call my grandma, so those two came together to form Bravemumma.”
Stephanie now leads a worldwide community of 4500 women living with pelvic organ prolapse, a condition affecting one in two women during their lifetime.
The condition develops when pelvic organs descend into the vaginal canal due to weakened support structures.
“Your pelvis is where your organs live, your uterus, bladder, bowel,” Stephanie said.
“Pregnancy in childbirth is a contributing factor, one of the major contributing factors, but it doesn’t have to be though; it can still happen to women in perimenopause, menopause, at any stage of life.”
Despite these challenges, Stephanie successfully had a second child under careful medical supervision.
According to the Royal Women’s Hospital, a vaginal prolapse is more likely if:
- Someone in your family has also had a prolapse
- You have been through menopause, and you have low levels of the hormone oestrogen
- You are over overweight
- You cough a lot or strongly, because you smoke, have bad bronchitis or asthma
- You often have constipation and need to push hard or strain to go to the toilet
- You regularly lift heavy things
- You have fibroids or a pelvic tumour
- You have had surgery in the past to treat a vaginal prolapse.
The condition can be managed through various treatments including physiotherapy, pessaries, and in some cases, surgery.
Stephanie stresses the importance of raising awareness about this common yet rarely discussed condition.
“There is a free podcast called The Lowdown with Bravemumma and from there, once they listen to it, then they can decide to join the free Facebook group, because if we get people in without even knowing who we are, what we talk about, it can be jarring,” she said.
“It is a private group of women all living with prolapse and they are there to answer questions, provide information from boots on the ground, not necessarily your GP.”
Stephanie does recommend speaking with your GP about treatments that would be right for you and making an appointment with a pelvic floor specialist physical therapist.
To listen to The Lowdown with Bravemumma, go to bravemumma.podbean.com
For details on vaginal prolapse, go to thewomens.org.au/health-information/vaginal-prolapse, or speak to your GP.
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