PP bleeding & swimming?

[tigress]

I am just wondering if anyone knows about this--it feels like kind of an old fashioned question like, am i still a virgin if i wear a tampon? (well obviously i'm not if i have a baby ) anyway, i don't want to call my mw about this on the long weekend. I am still bleeding :, and wondering about swimming? is it okay (besides the potential gush and run down my leg, because i assume tampons are a nono)? it is so hot and i feel like such a whale-y, sweaty, hormonal beast that i think a dip in the ocean would be so wonderful. i haven't been in since the day before i gave birth. Please let me know what you know and possibly assuage my fears of bacteria-filled water rushing up into my pelvis and rendering me infertile for the rest of my days

[MsGrizzle]

I did ask my mw about this because the standard medical advice is to wait 6 weeks. Her words: You are not going to get an infection from a chlorinated pool. I went swimming and enjoyed myself this summer! I'm so glad I did. I was not gushing though - I just had blood when I wiped. She also said it is bunk that you aren't supposed to bathe for 6 weeks as well. Your tub has your own germs. What is the difference with them telling you to take a sitz bath, right?

Enjoy!

[PancakeGoddess]

water doesn't rush in, I think. I don't think it even really gets in at all unless forced pretty well. I mean, how often do you get out of the shower or bath and have water run out of your vagina?

[Quagmire]

Agreed with PPs. If you have a waterbirth your vagina and uterus don't fill with water!

FWIW I asked about tampons in B&B. I was dying to swim and while I wasn't gushing blood I was definitely afraid of getting blood in the pool. I got a bunch of nos and one yes I've done it and it was fine. I was actually going to do it but then I stopped bleeding so it was no longer an issue.

[SabbathD]

There was a study done about water entering the vagina because there were so many people up in arms about water births being linked to infections after the bag of waters was broken. It was a big study, and I can't point anyone towards a specific link. Essentially (and I am trying to remember details but I just don't have many) they gave women tampons that were treated, or the water that they had them immerse themselves in was treated....something like that, and then they inspected the tampons....gosh this is terrible. Regardless, they were able to prove that water didn't enter the vaginal canal to any noticeable degree whatsoever. Hence the reason that it's actually quite quite safe to be in a birthing tub even after your water has broken.