Does everyone's vagina look like this after birth?

[lillacfaerie]

I was just wondering if it's normal for your vaginas to look more open after birth (i'm 8 months pp). I don't have a prolapse, although I though I did for a long time (I've been examined twice, and have no symptoms so to speak, just an open looking vagina) I'd say it is open about one or two centimeters when I am standing and very little when I'm laying down. Sex feels the same as it did before birth and I'm not incontinent. Is it changed for good? please let me know if I'm just a freak!

[ChristSavesAll]

It did stretch a lot to accomodate a baby.... I haven't paid that close attention to my area since dd was born, 1 year now, so I have no idea. But hey if the sex feels the same and all is well I'd say not to worry about it, I mean how many people are checkin it out besides you? And I'd bet that dh doesnt even notice a difference.

[lillacfaerie]

I know right? I don't know why it bothers me. I am terribly dry down there, so I am a little uncomfortable during the day, but that's a different story!

[honey-lilac]

Also dry, also open (although for me it's when lying down, not standing up). I keep asking DH whether or not it's any, um... less pleasurable... for him when we do it, and he SAYS no, but I don't quite believe him because it's his not-too-honest face. For me it feels pretty similar except for the total lack of lubrication. I'm 18 months PP btw.

[MegBoz]

Yup, that's how I look. Like you can see the inside of the vaginal walls when I'm just laying there, whereas before you could only see the labia minoria (inner lips). It's not VERY open, just a LITTLE more open.

My MW said to me, point blank, "You're vagina is never going to look the same." (Like - not just me personally - but every woman who's had a baby vaginally.)

DH says it feels exactly the same. He also had a girlfriend before we were married who'd had a baby & he said hers felt like any other as well. I know he's telling the truth because he is a brutally, brutally honest man. He would say so if it felt different.

I think it's normal to be drier if you're still not ovulating because of BFing. I got my period back 3 days before DS turned 12 mos old. I don't remember having too much trouble with dryness even before that though. Of course, I was on the pill for many years before having DS & that made me a bit drier anyway, so maybe it's just more normal for me.

[pjs]

I know it was, but haven't looked down there much lately!

[ShadowMoon]

It definitely opened up a bit. The dryness went away after awhile. Otherwise it didn't change too drastically. I'm still quite fond of her

[doulawendy3]

Are you breastfeeding?

Dryness can be caused by breastfeeding and will eventually go away every mom is a bit different!

[brightonwoman]

I know that after birthing the cervix never closes up quite as tight as it was pre-baby...(taking charge of your fertility has photos of both, and basically a pre-baby cervix has just a dot, but the post-baby one has a little slit...). Anyway, I imagine the vagina is the same...I've never spent a lot of time really thinking about it, but it would be logical...

[phatchristy]

Well, I was always under the impression that birth pretty much destroyed the hymen, therefore you should look more open from the outside. That's really just skin like tissue. But that doesn't mean internally that there's been a change. The interior, 'tightness' is controlled by the PC muscles. Muscles CAN and do get back into shape. I was reading online once about a doctor who basically wrote that he still considered a woman's internal physiology to be 'postpartum' for a year after birth.

But, there's also pluses. I've also read that women who birth vaginally tend to have better sensation from the g-spot and are more likely to be g-spot orgasmic. I totally believe that one here.

If you're bothered by it, is it because of our culture? The media doesn't seem to value anything but youthful, buff bodies. Sigh.

All that being said I should have taken pictures LOL I don't remember what I looked like before!

[Mrsboyko]

How exactly are you seeing this area? I mean, laying down or standing up, I don't know of any position where I could see inside my vagina w/o a mirrior involved.....

That said, the inner labia are a bit longer now, but that happened after DD who was a section, os I jsut don't know.

[lillacfaerie]

With a mirror (LOL)! That would take a lot of yoga practice otherwise. Interestingly I read recently that the reason your vagina looks so different after birth is because your hymen is completely obliterated. Apparently even if you have sex your hymen can stretch or tear, but it still covers the introitus a little. After you deliver a baby, forget it! The whole thing is destroyed. Who knew? Also there is always a little bit of vagina vault descent after a birth. Not a prolapse per se, but a little sagging. Makes me feel better to know that.

[petra_william]

i actually feel more pleasure after having ds than what i did before. i dont know if its changed at all cos i never paid that much attention to it. dp says it feels the same. throughout my pregnancy and for a good few months afterwards i did my pelvic floor exercises religiously and do still sometimes do my pelvic floors so dont know if it made a difference