oh great.. now something else

[snuffles]

i am really freaking now, i was looking at my hemorrhoids in the mirror and urinated a little bit and my urine is NOT coming out of the right place!! I thought i had felt it do that before in the bathtub but dismissed it. It is coming out of my vagina, not my urethra. has anybody else had this.. what the heck?!

[gauge14iv]

After having a child, it is not uncommon (And heck even in some who have never had kids) for the urinary opening to sort of recede into just inside of the vagina. I wouldn't worry too much about it if everything else is normal (IE no symptoms of urinary tract infection etc) On the other hand, if you can see the urinary opening outside the vagina and you are still have urine come from the wrong place, then I would check with your HCP to make sure you don't have a fistula. These are not all that common, but they can occur.

[snuffles]

i am not sure i know what you are talking about.. what is a fistula? i think i saw an extra opening in the vagina where it was coming out.. towards the bottom of the vagina. i have no other symptoms whatsoever.. very strange!! does a fistula require surgery? that scares me. i just went to the bathroom a minute ago and it was still spraying out of my vagina, NOT out of my urethra.

[gauge14iv]

Sounds like the urinary opening is just inside the vag opening - this isn't unusual. Things tend to move a bit after childbirth. I cannot count the number of ladies I have had to cath who had theirs that way. Just to be sure, I would let your HCP check it out next time you are in, or sooner if there are any symptoms of infection such as cloudy or odorous urine, drainage, pain or fever. To be honest, I don't know what they do for fistulas these days - probably depends upon the severity and location as well as wether or not any problems are being caused I would imagine. When I worked in the hospital they surgically repaired them , but those were generally pretty severe ones.

[snuffles]

wow, all of this is very new to me.. I thought I had read everything about childbirth and afterwards. how does your urinary opening move?! that seems so strange to me. not that i dont believe you, just something for me to think about. i thought that the urinary tube.. whatever it is called, was permanently attached to the big opening about your vagina? but apparently it can move down into your vagina?!

[gauge14iv]

It isn't so much that it "moves" as it is that things get stretched and sort of mishapen - kegels might help Some peoples are an inch away - others are closer to begin with and some start out just inside.